Black feather
by FlammingAxel
Summary: Yusuke is a demon exterminator with absolutely no talent or ability. Another twist is that she is actually half yokai. When she is sent to Toono village on a mission, she ends up getting trapped and in exchange for keeping her life, she must do all of the chores. Not only that but she soon finds herself falling in love with a certain yokai named Itaku
1. Trapped in Toono village

Trapped in Toono village

_Disclaimer: I don't own nurarihyon no mago or any of its characters_

Yusuke smoothly pulled the bristles of the hairbrush through her sleek, shoulder length raven hair. The silver highlights caught the bright sunlight that intruded through the cracked open window. Yusuke had combed the brush through her hair millions of times. Any tangle or knot that had ever excised in her hair had been long gone. Yusuke didn't care how long she had been brushing; all she wanted to do was waste as much time as possible.

Today was the day that she would accompany a group of the yokai exterminators on their mission. As much as Yusuke begged her uncle to let her stay at the temple, her uncle replied saying that it would be better for her and would help to boost her nonexistent skills in demon slaughter. Yusuke's family, the Kimura family, was made up of a long line of yokai exterminators that posses the unique skill to craft weapons that can be used to kill yokai. Unfortunately Yusuke had never had the ability to wield a weapon or even craft one. Ever since it was proven to her uncle that she could not slay yokai he has been very hell bent on training her and making use of her.

Even if the training killed her, he never wanted to give up. Yusuke inhaled a shaky breath as she slowly set the comb done on the wood vanity. Yusuke stared into the mirror at her reflection. Her long and raggedy, uneven bangs stretched low, almost covering her eyes. Yusuke had never bothered to cut them because they never bugged her or affected her sight. She wore a dark, black priestess uniform with traditional sandals. Yusuke skimmed herself one more time before giving a nod of approval.

Yusuke's silvery-grey eyes glanced back at the thin wood bokken that her uncle, Yamato, always forced her to miserably train with. Yusuke was not sure whether or not to take the wooden sword along with her. After a moment of thought, the raven-haired girl decided against it. As much as her uncle forced it upon her, Yusuke was against harming both humans and yokai; after all she was part yokai. Yusuke always wondered if that was the reason why her wretched uncle seemed to take so much joy in hitting her as a punishment.

"Yusuke, get down here right now! You're supposed to leave in five minutes!" yelled Yamato from the lower level.

His raspy voice crawled up the stairs and attacked Yusuke's sensitive eardrums, causing her to jump. Once she recovered, Yusuke's eyelids fell low in sadness. She never asked for the life she had now. She never asked to have no parents and to live with an abusive uncle. She never asked to be born as a half yokai nor did she ask to be born with no exterminator abilities. Yusuke exhaled loudly. She stood up from the spot that she had been kneeling on the floor and slowly dragged her distort form down to the front entrance.

There Yamato and a small group of five exterminators stood. The five exterminators exchanged looks to one another while Yamato's dark eyes stayed glued to Yusuke with a seemingly impatient expression folding over his face. As Yusuke approached them Yamato spoke.

"Finally! What took you so long?! Didn't I ever teach you to do as you're told and be on time?!" Yamato screamed.

Yusuke kept her grey eyes focused on the stone path which seemed to be much more appealing than Yamato's oily, scowling excuse for a face.

"Are you even listening to me, Yu?!" Yamato yelled once more but this time roughly grabbing hold of Yusuke's shoulder.

Yusuke's eyebrow twitched at the sound of the name "Yu" escaping from his small mouth. Yusuke's mother was the only person in the world who got away with calling her Yu and since her mother was dead, there was no longer anyone in the world who could call her by that name. Out of anger and annoyance, Yusuke roughly pulled her shoulder out of Yamato's grasp in a rude manner. Yamato's mouse-like eyes widened shortly before returning to their usual slanted position with his eyebrows furrowing suit.

"Please uncle, do not call me by that—"Yusuke was cut off by the back of Yamato's hand whipping harshly against her soft cheek.

The impact of the hit sent Yusuke stumbling to the cold ground. She landed not-so-softly on her side. Yusuke wasted no time to absorb the throbbing pain in her cheek. She quickly bolted up to her feet with her small hand gently caressing her hurting face. Yusuke's eyes were shaped in the best death glare that she could conjure up however her expression had no affect on Yamato.

"How dare you act in such a way towards your own uncle! I was the one who raised you and trained you after your parent's unfortunate death and this is how you thank me!? You should learn some respect you ungrateful brat." Yusuke's uncle rambled on, every word he spoke dripping with venom.

Yusuke gave a weak nod but did not wipe away the glared that she wore. Yamato let out a huff before turning on his heel to face the five exterminators.

"Now remember what I told you. When you all return from Toono village, I expect Yusuke's skills to have increased." Yamato spoke coldly.

"Have no worries master Yamato, by the time we return your niece will be a fully fledged exterminator." One of the five exterminators exclaimed.

The boy's words managed to bring a stingy smirk to Yamato's face. Yusuke shook her head in disapproval. She didn't understand how they could believe that she would become a skillful exterminator just from attending one mission. Despite the emotionless look that sat on Yusuke's pale face, she was shaken on the inside. Toono village was supposed to be full of yokai, in fact the village itself was said to be like a yokai. The only way to get in and out was to have the ability to cut through fear. Luckily all of the exterminators had that ability but obviously Yusuke had no idea how.

In the event that all of the exterminators get killed and Yusuke is left alone then she would surely be killed. The very thought of entering a yokai village sent chills slithering up Yusuke's spine like cold snakes.

"Lady Yusuke, c'mon." one of the exterminators called over his shoulder as entered through the large purple slit through the sky. A strong yokai aura was seeping out of it like mist. Yusuke knew that once she stepped through that opening that she was endangering her life all because of her forceful uncle. She could feel the sweat on her forehead stream down her face until it met its end once it dropped from her chin. Yusuke managed to swallow the troublesome lump that had lodged itself in her throat a while ago.

The raven-haired girl cautiously made her way towards the purple, ominous opening. The short walk seemed to take forever as she slowly brought herself to a stop once she reached the front of it. Yamato snapped a few discouraging words directed to Yusuke but she could barely hear anything over the rapid drumming of her heart. Yusuke had not expected herself to be as scared as she was to enter Toono village but it could not be helped. After all, Yusuke would be risking her life and there was a high chance that something bad might happen.

Finally after what seemed like centuries to Yamato, Yusuke followed after the five men into the opening. Shortly after she entered, the slit closed up like a zipper as if it were never opened. Yusuke stepped into the other side of the cut fear. She was greeted by the scenery of a large, rich and green forest filled with many tall trees that formed somewhat of a canopy that masked most of the forest from any sunlight. Most of the trees looked to be centuries old judging by the size of their thickness. Yusuke's nervousness had quickly dissolved at the sight of the large forest. She had always loved forests; to her they were very calming. The raven-haired girl threw wondrous glances in every direction.

As Yusuke curiously looked around the area, the five men that she had followed in there were carefully studying their surroundings in search of yokai. Just as Yusuke took a step forward one of the men whirled their head in her direction.

"Lady Yusuke, look out!" he screamed as he pushed Yusuke out of the way of an unknown attack. The two of them fell to the grass with a loud thump. Yusuke's head had an unpleasant encounter with a hard rock, instantly knocking her out cold. The man that had fallen on Yusuke quickly jumped to his feet leaving the unconscious girl on the ground.

"Yokai!" one of the men exclaimed. That was the last muffled noise that Yusuke's fading hearing could pick up before she lost all consciousness.

"Wow, these guys were a bunch of weaklings. They weren't even a challenge for me!" Awashima spoke while sheathing his sword.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure these guys are supposed to be from that Kimura family of yokai exterminators. They're supposed to be strong I guess that was just an overstatement." Dohiko added while giving a light kick to one of the dead bodies that lay on the ground.

"Hey look, this one's still alive." Amezo spoke while pointing a scaly, webbed finger at an unconscious girl. "Heh...you know she's actually pretty cute." He added.

Awashima, Dohiko and Itaku all gathered around the raven-haired girl with interest. Amezo was right. The girl's chest was slowly moving up and down, filling her lungs with air.

"Huh, your right. Should we just kill her now?" asked Awashima, gripping onto the hilt of her blade.

"Wait." Itaku stepped in as he intently examined the girl. The three yokai patiently awaited an answer from their friend as he studied her. Something about the girl just didn't seem right. She was small and petit compared to the other exterminators, she didn't even posses a weapon and her aura. Her aura was defiantly the strangest part about her. She looked and seemed human and yet she had half of a yokai's aura.

"This girl...is half yokai."

The other yokai's eyes widened slightly.

"Really? Then why would she be hanging out with a bunch of demon exterminators?" Awashima inquired curiously.

Itaku merely shrugged off the blonde's question. It was defiantly strange for anyone with yokai blood to be among exterminators of all people. Not only did she seem so much different from the five men that she had arrived with but even her clothes were not the same. All of the other men wore very expensive looking, high in quality clothes that were all white in colour. Even their hair was neatly trimmed and pulled back in a ponytail. All and all the five men looked to have lived very rich and wealthy lives. The girl however wore a poor quality priestess uniform that had small tares in various areas and looked more like many black rags sewn together in an attempt to make an outfit. It looked very worn out and was covered in dirt and the odd stain that barely showed on the black fabric. Her raven hair looked scruffy and raggedy as if it were cut with a knife. Her messy bangs seemed to cover most of her pale, dirt spotted face.

It was strange for a half yokai that looked so poor to be in a group of demon exterminators. The only explanation that Itaku could think of was that perhaps she was mistreated in her family for the reason that she was half yokai. There was a heavy silence that surrounded the four yokai like a blanket.

"So...should we take her lord Akagappa?" asked Amezo, breaking the long silence.

The other three nodded in agreement with the kappa's suggestion. Itaku reached down and hoisted the girl's small form into his arms before following his friends into the canopy of the trees, jumping from branch to branch towards their destination.

The faint sound of muffled voices intruded Yusuke's ears. Her heavy eyelids slowly lifted revealing the sight of ceiling rafters. Yusuke blinked a few times before her sight and hearing became clear. Once she became aware that she was no longer in the forest with the five exterminators, Yusuke sat up so fast that she feared if she had done so any faster than her head would fly off of her body. Yusuke desperately scanned her surroundings in hopes of being somewhere safe but she was horribly mistaken.

Yokai of every sort surrounded Yusuke in a large room with little furniture. Each yokai her eyes had caught sight of, were large and strong looking. Defiantly the type that could snap her neck with one blow. Yusuke's grey orbs finally landed on what seemed to be the largest yokai in the room. His large red head almost touched the roof. The yokai sat cross legged while he was being served by a much smaller and younger looking demon. His dark eyes were glued to Yusuke in somewhat interested manner. Harsh comments from the other yokai in the room bounced off of the walls and attempted to enter Yusuke's ears but she ignored them all. The yokai that she had now spotted appeared to be the leader. Yusuke stared up at him as if asking for him to speak. There was a short silence between them before Yusuke finally spoke up.

"Where am I?" she asked being sure to mask any fear that she felt.

"You are in Toono village." The large yokai responded vaguely.

"Who are you?" Yusuke questioned farther.

"I am lord Akagappa, leader of this village." The yokai, Akagappa, replied in a deep voice. There were many unanswered questions that Yusuke had but before she could continue her "interrogation", Akagappa stepped in and spoke.

"May I ask what your name is?"

"...Yusuke Kimura..."

"I see, so you belong to the Kimura family of yokai exterminators am I correct?" Yusuke gave a slight nod of her head. Only then did she realize that the entire room had fallen silent except for her and Akagappa.

"Then tell me, if you are half yokai then why are you an exterminator?" There was a long and silent pause as Yusuke thought of an answer to Akagappa's question. She wasn't an exterminator, her uncle always forced her to be one but she would always fail. After a few more moments of thought, Yusuke parted her dry, chapped lips to speak.

"I'm not...an exterminator. I-I can't kill yokai even if I wanted to. It's my uncle. He forces me to train so that I can be of use to him and he keeps me trapped in the temple." Yusuke's voice became lower and lower with each word that came out of her mouth until she was finished briefly explaining. Akagappa nodded in understanding as he took a minute to think about what he should do.

"She's lying!" one of the yokai in the room yelled, starting an uproar.

"We should just kill 'er now!"

"She's a demon exterminator! She can't be trusted!"

Almost all of the yokai in the room were yelling out their thoughts on how she should die by then. Each comment that reached Yusuke's ears made her feel more and more uneasy. _"Are these yokai really going to kill me?"_ Yusuke thought to herself. The same thought continued to bounce around in her mind, booming louder and louder with each passing second. Finally Akagappa raised his hand slowly as a gesture for everyone to settle down. The entire room fell dead silent as the yokai awaited their leader to give the word to kill the half breed.

"I have made a decision. I do not believe that this girl means us any harm and so I will allow her to stay in Toono village. She will take care of the chores as payment for her life being speared."

At the sound of his deep, calm voice speaking those words, Yusuke's mind became a conflicting tornado of emotions and thoughts. Part of her was afraid of having to live in a yokai village and feared how they would treat her but another part of her screamed that it was an opportunity to get away from her prison and her uncle. It was a chance for her to escape her twisted life and start anew. "_Who knows? Maybe I might end up making friends here."_ By then Yusuke had completely forgotten about her fears and doubts about living in Toono as they slowly disappeared into nothing.

It was truly amazing that Yusuke could go from having her inner emotions in turmoil to feeling slightly excited and interested in how her life would be form then on. Yusuke certainly was strange sometimes. The voice of Akagappa had towards Yusuke's ears but she didn't bother to listen as she was still in deep thought. Less than a minute later, Yusuke was shaken from her train og thought and pulled back into reality by a gentle hand being placed on her shoulder as a smooth toned voice spoke to her.

"Excuse me? Miss Kimura?"

"Huh?" Yusuke's grey orbs tracked the source of the voice to a young woman. There was a soft smile across her lips that gave her a very polite look. The woman's friendly looking amber eyes complimented her shiny pink hair that was tied neatly in two buns with a lone braid hanging on the right. She parted her pristine-like lips to speak once more.

"My name is Reira and this is Yukari." Her petit hand was moved from Yusuke's shoulder to the top of a young girl's head. Only then did Yusuke notice the small little girl, clinging to the side of the young woman, Reira. Her enormous chocolate brown eyes stared intently at Yusuke as if she were looking into her soul. Yusuke's gaze wondered backup to Reira as she spoke.

"Here, I'll show you around the village." Reira stretched out her vacant hand in front of Yusuke, welcoming her to take it.

The raven-haired girl cautiously slipped her hand into Reira's as she was helped to her feet. The pinkette turned on her heal and headed towards a sliding wood door, grasping Yusuke's hand with her right and Yukari's hand with her left. Reira let go of Yusuke's hand to open the door and stepped through. The half yokai took one last glance behind her at the dim-lighted room. She had managed to catch a glimpse of a young male's silhouette before she was softly pulled through the doorway by whom she guessed to be Reira.

Once through the door, the tour had begun. The yuki-onna had lead Yusuke through almost the entire village, pointing out key information along the way. Reira also explained what chores Yusuke would be expected to do and how to do them in a quick and efficient way. Throughout the whole tour, Yusuke remained silent, not speaking a word. At some points, Reira had begun to question if Yusuke could even manage to speak at all. Finally after what felt like hours of nonstop walking, the three girls had finally gotten to their last stop.

"And finally, this is where you will be sleeping." The pinkette said softly as she gestured to the large room.

Yusuke scanned it carefully. The room was quite plain, with no decor and little colour other than the vibrant designs of the covers for the beds that littered the floor. Each bedcover had a different design to meet the tastes of its owners and each was neatly made. Reira strolled to one of the beds that were packed neatly in the corner closest to the door with Yukari trailing behind her.

"Here, this one can be your bed." Yusuke gave a small nod of understanding before walking towards Reira and Yukari.

She gave a small bow of gratitude.

"Thank you for the tour, it was very kind of you to show me around." Yusuke spoke in the most polite way that she could.

"Oh, its fine, you don't have to thank me, really. It was actually quite pleasant to spend a bit of time with you, Miss Kimura."

"Please, call me Yusuke." A bright smile tugged on the tips of Yusuke's lips. She couldn't help but smile at the thought that she might have been accomplishing the task of gaining a friend. There was a moment of silence before Reira spoke, her soft expression losing all meaning and being replaced by a serious one.

"You know...I'm surprised that you seemed to agree so willingly to this job. I mean, isn't there anyone back in your home that you might miss?"

"No." Yusuke spoke bluntly in a monotone.

"Oh...I see. Well I'm sorry that you feel that way."

"Don't be. I really don't care where I am, as long as I'm away from that hell house, I'm fine. Besides, I'm sure that living here won't be all that bad." Yusuke gave Reira a reassuring smile who in return, smiled back.

"Well it's already sundown. Maybe you should get some rest. After all, this must have been a bit of an exhausting day today plus you're going to have to wake up pretty early from now on to start your chores."

"Alright. Thanks again, Reira, Yukari." Yusuke gave the two yokai one last soft smile before they exited the room with Yusuke staying behind to rest.

Once they were gone, Yusuke plopped herself down on the semi-soft bed and buried her tired head in the fluffy pillow, soon falling into a well needed sleep. It turned out that she was actually much more exhausted than she had thought.


	2. Chores, baths and introductions?

Chores, baths and introductions?

_Disclaimer: I don't own nurarihyon no mago or any of its characters_

Yusuke had only just gotten to Toono yesterday and she was already being worked to the bone with chores. She had to wake up extra early to prepare breakfast then after that she would have to collect all of the laundry that needed to be done and carry it to the river were it would be washed. Afterwards she would have to lug the entire load up a small mountain of rocks to hang them up to dry. Then she would have to chop the fire wood which wasn't as hard as it sounded. Next she would have to return and cook dinner for almost all of the yokai in the village which took a reasonable amount of time. Finally the last chore she would have to do for the day would be doing all of the dishes and by the time they were done, it would already be around midnight.

Yusuke continued to scrub at the laundry she was in the middle of washing. So far she had only accomplished making breakfast and almost all of the laundry. As much as she hated having absolutely no free time and being worked like a slave there were some up sides to living in Toono from now on. For example, Reira had offered Yusuke a fresh, new priestess uniform to wear. It wasn't almost in tatters and wasn't cluttered with dirt or small blood stains. The only thing that Yusuke didn't like about it was its colour; it was pristine white. But Yusuke said nothing on the matter because she really didn't want to be rude to her new friend.

Reira had also offered to tie Yusuke's hair up in a pretty style and trim her ragged bangs but Yusuke politely declined. She preferred her straggly, shoulder length hair to be down at all times as well as her long, messy bangs that provided her the ability to hide her face easily whenever she wanted to. Overall, Reira and Yukari had been so kind to Yusuke so far. Reira had even proposed that she would help Yusuke make dinner and would do the dishes for her so that she would have some time to take a bath.

Yusuke had finally finished washing the last bag of laundry. She loaded it all in the large bag and swung it over her shoulder. Just as she was about to make her way towards the hill of rocks, the sound of foots steps echoed behind her. Yusuke turned her head around to see a large rooster-like yokai holding two large laundry bags over his shoulders.

"I've got more laundry for you to do." He exclaimed as he let the two bags fall to the ground.

Yusuke's gaze switched from the bags to the yokai before giving a small pout.

"But...I thought_ this_ was the last load?"

"Nope, you missed some."

The yokai threw the bags at Yusuke's feet while he chuckled in an almost sinister way. Yusuke glared at the laundry bags as if they were her enemy before switching her death glare to the tall rooster yokai that was now walking away. Yusuke cursed under her breath to the now out of sight yokai before continuing towards the hill. Yusuke climbed her way up the rocks while lugging the heavy bag over her shoulder. Yusuke was very grateful that she had not fallen on her way up the small mountain or else she would have had a lot of laundry to pick up.

Yusuke began hanging up the wet laundry in an almost furious way. It was only the first day in Toono and she already hated it but she wouldn't complain since her life there was much better than her past life at the temple. The crisp morning breeze slowly flew by Yusuke, causing her raven hair to drift along with it. As her hair flowed through the light breeze, rays of sunlight reflected off of her silver highlights. Just as Yusuke was about to finish hanging the rest of the laundry she heard a soft voice speak from behind her.

"Yusuke, do you have a moment?" asked a familiar voice. Yusuke spun her head in the direction of the voice, seeing Reira standing with a soft smile on her face with Yukari standing next to her.

"Yeah, what is it?" Yusuke replied, trying to sound as pleasant as possible.

"Well I would like to introduce you to some of my friends, if that's okay with you." Yusuke smiled slightly before nodding her head. Reira's already existing smile brightened at her silent response. Reira took hold of Yukari's small hand and gestured for the half demon to follow. Soon enough, Reira had led Yusuke to a large training ground that was surrounded by large trees. Yusuke's silvery eyes gleamed with wonder as she took in the beautiful sight before her. The training ground looked so natural, as if it were part of the forest unlike the ones back at the temple. In the middle of the training ground were two yokai sparring with each other. It was similar to what the exterminators used to do on their free time. Yusuke always watched them spar when she was a child and found great interest in it. It was the only time when she would not be scolded for doing something other than working to improve herself.

Reira made her way down to the training ground with Yukari at her side. Yusuke followed suit. Soon the three girls had made their way down to the sparring area where Yusuke could now get a better view of the yokai training. One was a blonde male, wielding a sword. He had dark yellow eyes that seemed to have a naturally piercing gaze to them. The other was another male with a seemingly average build. He had short, messy black hair that was mostly hidden beneath a red bandana and wielded three sickles. The noises of their clashing weapons echoed through the forest endlessly. Yusuke's eyes were glued to the boy with the three sickles. His movements and technique intrigued her greatly. She felt as if she were learning just by watching the two yokai spar. Soon enough, Yusuke had fallen into somewhat of a trance as she blankly studied them. Reira had given a slight "ahem" but the half breed was too captivated to even acknowledge the yuki-onna's actions.

Soon the two yokai had ceased their sparring and now stood still, eyes glued to Reira. Reira's speaking was almost muffled to Yusuke as she remained in her own little world. It almost sounded like Reira had spoken her name...oh well. She could not seem to pry her eyes away from the sickle boy, unaware that now his sharp, brown eyes were staring straight at her. Finally, Yusuke had been brought back to reality as realization hit her that she was mindlessly staring at the boy...and had been caught doing so. Her grey eyes snapped back to the way they once were as she helplessly glanced around, noticing that now all eyes were on her.

"H-huh?" was all that the raven-haired girl could say as she looked towards Reira, her eyes begging for help. The pinkette gave Yusuke a small smile before repeating her words.

"Yusuke, this is Awashima and this is Itaku." She said softly, gesturing to each one as she spoke their names. Yusuke repeated the names in her head in order to ensure that she was pronouncing them correctly.

Once she was certain that she understood, Yusuke gave a nod before bowing slightly while saying: "It's nice to meet you, I'm Yusuke Ki-"She was cut off by the blonde yokai, Awashima.

"Yusuke Kimura. Yeah, we know." He spoke sounding slightly annoyed by the half breed's words. Yusuke slowly lifted her head but was sure to let it hang slightly in order for her ragged bangs to partially mask her face.

"S-sorry." Yusuke apologized in a low, quiet voice. She had nothing else to say afterwards. It wasn't like she could just start chatting them up with a bunch of yokai talk and it wasn't like she could simply yell "Hey, why don't we spar?" or anything of that sort either. The only thing she could do was awkwardly stand in the thick silence while she tried to cover her slightly blushing cheeks. Suddenly an unfamiliar voice shattered the long silence. Thank God.

"Hey, what's going on over here?" asked the voice. Everyone but Yusuke glanced in the direction of the speaker.

"Oh, Amezo, Dohiko, I was just introducing Yusuke to Awashima and Itaku." replied Reira.

"Yusuke? You mean that cute newcomer?" asked another voice. At this point, Yusuke's face had become so red that she was sure people could see her blush even from beneath the camouflage of her bangs. Yusuke was forced to glance up when she felt Reira's cold hand touch her shoulder.

"Yusuke, this is Amezo and Dohiko." Yusuke shot a concealed glance towards the two new yokai. One was a green, fish-like yokai with gleaming yellow eyes. The other was a tall, monkey-like demon with brown fur all around his square face and body. The two approached the group casually, joining in on the "conversation". Before Yusuke could return her gaze to the ground, the fish-like yokai, Amezo, came up to her, his face only inches from hers.

"Hey, you know, now that I take a closer look at her, she really _does _have a cute face." he spoke with great enthusiasm in his strange voice.

Yusuke took a few steps back to gain some distance between them, remaining silent.

"Not very outgoing though, huh." Spoke the other yokai, Dohiko. Well what did they expect? For Yusuke to be completely enthusiastic about meeting yokai when she was such a weakling? Yusuke's head shot up as she felt two hands firmly grip her shoulders. She whipped her gaze around, almost hitting the person behind her in the face with her hair. It was Awashima.

"So what's your fear?" he asked in a slightly eager manner. Yusuke arched a brow at the blonde's question. She understood what "fear" was to yokai but had never known what sort of it she possessed. Yusuke found it quite pointless for Awashima to ask such an obvious question but nevertheless, Yusuke politely replied.

"I...I don't know." Awashima seemed almost taken aback by the half demon's response and spun her around effortlessly so that now he was facing the raven-haired girl.

"What?! You don't know?" Yusuke merely shook her head innocently.

"Don't be stupid, Awashima. Think about it. She was raised by exterminators, why _would_ she know." Itaku stepped in. Both glanced towards him before looking back at each other.

"Yeah, I guess so." Awashima said, still not releasing his grip on her shoulders. "Well do you at least know what yokai you are?"

"No...I really don't." Yusuke said shamefully.

"Hunh, well it's hard to tell when you're in human form, change into your yokai form." Awashima spoke with a hint of demand in his voice.

"I don't know _how._" Yusuke said slightly irritably. Awashima finally let go of the half breed's shoulders and turned; now facing the opposite direction.

"Jeez, you're not much of a yokai at all." the blonde boy said disappointed.

"Well it's not her fault." Reira defended.

"Yeah..." Yukari agreed, coughing lightly towards the end of her sentence. Yusuke was relieved that at least she had Reira and Yukari to stand up for her.

"So, Yusuke...do you think you would ever want to learn of what your fear is?" Reira asked softly.

"Well...I suppose that it _might_ be a useful piece of knowledge." Yusuke replied, slightly unsure of her words.

"Well you know, Itaku is actually pretty good at this sort of thing. Why don't you get him to teach you?" Awashima chimed in. Everyone sent a glance in Itaku's direction, expecting him to reply.

"Learning about her fear is something that she'll have to figure out on her own. I'm not too fond of teaching these things unless I have to." and with that, Itaku swiftly leaped onto a high tree branch, taking his leave. Reira let out a sigh before sending the discouraged Yusuke a small but reassuring smile.

"Don't worry; he just has to warm up to you a bit. I'm sure that once you get to know each other better, he won't mind mentoring you." Yusuke's eyes reverted back to the ground as she gave a slight nod.

"Well...um, it was nice to meet all of you, good bye." Yusuke gave a light bow before turning on her heel and making her way back towards the river where she had "abandoned" the laundry. Yusuke had dropped her polite posture (which seemed to naturally appear when he met new people) and was now casually sauntering back. Upon arrival, the half breed allowed her knees to fall to the ground in front of the river, letting out a huff before continuing with her chores. All the while, Yusuke had not realized the pair of piercing brown eyes from up in the trees that followed her movement carefully.

A dark star-filled sky had already blanketed Toono village by the time Yusuke had finished preparing dinner. Reira had kept to her commitment and began to pick up the disserted dishes once everyone had filed out of the dining area.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to stay and help you, Reira?" Yusuke asked.

"I'm fine, Yusuke, just go and enjoy your bath." The yuki-onna flashed the half demon a smile before exiting the dining hall with a pile of dirty dishes in her hands. Yusuke sighed in defeat before starting towards the sliding, wood door. She stopped in her tracks just before the door, trying to recall how to reach the open-air bath.

"_Was it down the hall and up the stairs? Or could only be accessed from outside_?" She thought for a moment before shrugging it off.

"_Oh well, I suppose I'll just wing it then."_

Yusuke exited the dining area and made her way down the hall to begin her (hopefully not-so-long) search for the bath. Yusuke was feeling slightly confident in herself before coming across a "fork in the road". She had the choice to either continue down The Hall of Death or climb The Stairs of Doom (which were names that she so cleverly came up with). Yusuke thought for a moment, sending glances in both directions. Finally she chose to climb The Stairs of Doom since The Hall of Death sounded much more dangerous and scary then the stairs did. The half breed hurried up the steps before reaching the top hall. There was only one door that sat in the semi-long and empty hallway. Yusuke only hoped that it led to the open-air bath and not a room that she would regret entering. Yusuke slowly pulled the sliding door open; feeling relieved once the doors opened to reveal large boulders that surrounded a shallow pool of murky, steaming water. A small smile slipped onto the raven-haired girl as she strode towards the hot spring. Her grey eyes scanned the area, noticing that no-one was there. Yusuke quickly undressed and slipped into the bath, letting the hot water absorb and cleanse her.

She allowed her eyelids to close as her muscles began to relax in the soothing water. Yusuke moved back a bit and leaned her back onto a rock. This was the first time in a long time that Yusuke actually felt at ease. Unfortunately her moment of peace was shattered when the loud noise of the sliding door opening then closing caused her to jolt upright. Her eyes shot in the direction of the noise but she could only make out the silhouette of what looked to be a female. Yusuke squinted hard, attempting to see through the thick steam that clouded her vision. Before Yusuke could react to the figure slipping into the bath, it spoke.

"Hey, Yusuke, is that you? Reira said that you were taking a bath out here so I thought I'd join you." The voice was seemingly unfamiliar to her. The figure had gotten close enough to Yusuke that she could now make out the facial features through the steam. The girl had shoulder length blonde hair and large golden eyes, strikingly similar to Awashima.

"Who are you?" Yusuke questioned, sounding a little more demanding then she had meant.

"What do you mean? It's me! Awashima!" she said enthusiastically while letting a smug smile curl onto her lips.

"Awashima? But...I thought that..." Yusuke started but she somehow could not find the words to finish her sentence nor did she bother to mask her deep confusion.

"I'm a male during the day and a female at night! It's my yokai trait." She explained. "But just remember that whether I'm in male form or female form, I'll always be a man at heart!" Awashima finished her sentence with a large grin towards Yusuke.

"O-okay." she stuttered, confusion still haunting her but she decided to shrug it off.

"Good!" With a great splash, Awashima threw herself next to Yusuke and draped her arm around the half demon's shoulders. "So...I noticed you _checkin' out_ Itaku earlier." The blonde teased with a cheeky grin plastered to her face. As soon as the words "checking out" slipped from Awashima's mouth, Yusuke became instantly flustered.

"Ch-checking him out? Why w-would you s-say that? I mean...I wasn't...it's just that...no, I..." Awashima watched in amusement as the half breed tripped over her own words.

"Aaah, don't get so embarrassed! Itaku has tons of admirers here in Toono." Yusuke ceased her mumbling and sent Awashima a slight look of surprise.

"He does?"

"Are you kidding? Almost every girl in Toono has their eyes on him, except Reira of course."

"Huh...well, I guess I can kind of see why."

"Yeah, but he's never once fallen for a girl though."

"Oh? So he's a heartbreaker then?"

"Well...I guess you could say that since he always turns down every single girl that confesses to him. Every time I ask him why he does, he just tells me that he doesn't have time for that sort of stuff."

"I see...well, I kind of feel sorry for all of the girls that he's turned down. It must be hard for them to move on."

"Ha, yeah, but you'll be surprised at how persistent these girls can be. There's this one girl named Ai who has been turned down eight times in a row but she still doesn't give up on him."

"Wow...I don't know if that's either true love or a stubbornness condition." It was silent for a moment before Awashima burst out laughing at Yusuke's statement as the raven-haired girl just sat there with a look of confusion on her pale features. Finally Awashima's laughter had died down enough for her to speak.

"Knowing Ai, it's probably the latter. She's practically obsessed with Itaku! She glares at any girl that talks to him and hates Reira with a passion."

"What? But who could _ever_ hate Reira?"

"She hates her because Reira is a close friend of Itaku."

"Oh...well, jealousy _can_ mold you into a cruel person." Yusuke spoke as-a-matter-of-factly. Awashima merely nodded in agreement with her as she removed her arm from the young girl's shoulders.

There was complete yet relaxing silence for a little while as the two girls took the time to settle. After a while, Yusuke began to feel eyes looking her up and down, making her slightly uncomfortable. Her grey orbs glanced towards Awashima who had her golden ones glued to Yusuke's chest as if attempting to classify it.

"Um, Awashima...what are you doing?"

"Just analyzing your figure..." she answered bluntly.

"Oh...uh, okay." Yusuke said with awkwardness laced in her voice.

"You know, Yusuke, you actually have a pretty well proportioned chest which means that you would probably look really good in a badass warrior outfit or something. You'd probably get a few admirers yourself if you wore something more daring." A small blush crept its way up Yusuke's neck and planted itself onto her ghostly cheeks.

"Ah! Well, I don't know about that...I think t-that...uh..." Awashima just let out another laugh at her friend's reaction.

"You're way too modest, Yusuke. Why not just admit that you're pretty?" Yusuke's blush only grew as she hung her head, allowing her ragged bangs to cover her red face. Awashima pursed her lips as she noticed the half breed trying to hide herself.

"You know, you should really cut those bangs of yours and get them out of your face." Awashima sighed when she received no reply from the half demon.

"Well, I'm gonna get out now, you coming?" the blonde yokai asked while standing up and stretching. Only then did Yusuke emerge from behind her bangs to look up at Awashima who was already in the middle of putting her clothes back on. Yusuke nodded her head before following suit. She pulled on her white priestess uniform and slipped on her sandals. Awashima had already finished putting her clothes on since she only had to pull on some pajamas and sandals similar to Yusuke's. Obviously the half breed had not thought to bring her pajamas along to change into. By then, Awashima was already standing at the door, awaiting her friend. Yusuke scrambled towards the blonde and they both exited through the sliding door. The two girls made their way down the stair case and through a few halls before they had finally reached the bedroom for the females.

"Well, see you tomorrow, Yusuke!" Awashima called while giving her friend a wave of good bye.

"Wait, Awashima! Aren't you going to sleep?" Yusuke asked, gesturing to the entrance to the bedroom.

"Sleep in the _girl's_ bedroom? No way! Like I said earlier, I'm a guy at heart." Awashima spoke with a slightly offended tone while she pointed to her chest with her thumb.

"Oh, right, sorry." Yusuke said sheepishly before hesitantly returning the wave that Awashima had given her moments ago. The blonde yokai turned on her heel and trudged off in the opposite direction, most likely in the direction of the men's bedroom. Yusuke turned and faced the sliding wood door before her and slid it open as silently as possible so not to wake anyone. The beds that had littered the floor the day before now bared many sleeping yokai in them, happily snoring (not literally) away. Yusuke closed the door behind her and slowly crept towards her bed that was conveniently in the corner of the room, nearest to the door. She slipped off her sandals and changed into her pajamas before snuggling under the warm covers. She pulled the covers all the way up to her chin since sleeping next to Reira always made the room feel colder. Yusuke could only hope that it was not too late at night considering how early she would have to wake up the next morning but she was not to bothered by it. Yusuke had successfully gained yet another friend. That was good enough to allow Yusuke to sleep soundly.

**Author's note: well **_**that**_** took much longer than I thought. I'm very sorry to any who have been waiting for this chapter! But I really hope that you enjoyed nonetheless. So! Please review since reviews REALLY make my day :3 I promise that I will upload the next chapter much quicker! Thank you for reading!**

**~ FlammingAxel**


	3. Ai: The man-eating, monster from hell

Ai: The man-eating, monster girl from hell

_Disclaimer: I don't own Nurarihyon no mago or any of its characters_

The large dining hall was completely full with many chattering yokai, enjoying their breakfast. Yusuke was sitting quietly between Awashima and Reira, attempting to not make any eye contact with any of the larger and scarier yokai that sat across from her. Though being a naturally slow eater, Yusuke tried to eat as fast as she could without choking in order to have time to clean all of the dishes. She also tried her best not to start any conversations since it would only lead to distraction. Her mind began to wander a bit as she shovelled small portions of rice into her mouth with her chopsticks. It had already been seven days since she had come to Toono and throughout those seven days, she had managed to become slightly closer to both Awashima and Reira. The two of them were great people and Yusuke was very glad that she had them to talk to. Yesterday she had made the mistake of getting into a long conversation with Awashima during breakfast which only resulted in a late start at the rest of her chores but it really didn't bother her too much since she had managed to learn a lot more about Awashima and his fear. Awashima had also explained to her about the usage and affects of Hatsu. He explained that it was the first stage of activating fear and is used simply to frighten the opponent by releasing a strong aura and that having the ability to cut through Hatsu/fear is an important part of yokai combat. Yusuke found the information extremely useful but unfortunately she could not put it to use no matter how hard she tried. It seemed that she could just simply not use fear at all. Yusuke was unsure of whether it was her human blood that was holding her back but Awashima had said that as long as someone has the tiniest bit of yokai blood then they should be able to use fear. The only thing that the human blood affects is how strong your fear would be and how long it would take to learn how to use it. Yusuke was planning on stopping by the training arena later on in order to ask if Awashima could consider being her training partner. Reira had told Yusuke that she didn't have to learn how to use her fear or learn to battle but the half demon was quite determined to find out more about herself.

Yusuke set down her bowl and chopsticks and began to examine her left hand. She had a small, bumpy scar on that hand from her uncle ever since she was a young girl. Yusuke was sure that it did not come from a wound since it clearly showed where there had been stitching. She normally subconsciously rubbed it with her right thumb as a bit of a habit but the odd thing was that Yusuke could not quite remember how or why she had received it. Whenever she tried asking Yamato about it, he would either not answer or say that it is a merely for her own protection. Yusuke had no idea what he meant by that but after a while she had managed to cease her growing curiosity on the matter. Yusuke ran her thumb up and down the scar, feeling the all-too-familiar bumps on it from past stitching. Yusuke let her hand fall back to her lap in a somewhat lazy manner. Her silvery-grey eyes began to study the room and all of the people within it. Her eyes wondered briefly from yokai to yokai, most of which she was unfamiliar with except for her friends of course. Her gaze landed on a seemingly small male yokai with messy auburn hair and large fox ears. With every sound that was made, the boy's fox ears seemed to flinch and move, making them even more noticeable and cute. Yusuke could not hold in the small giggle that slipped out of her mouth. She truly hoped that she looked something like that in her yokai form (if she had one that is). Yusuke continued to observe the rest of the yokai until she caught a glimpse of an unknown girl sitting next to Itaku. She continuously sent glances of longing towards him which he seemed to completely ignore. Yusuke was sure that that girl must have been one of Itaku's admirers that Awashima had mentioned on her second day there.

Yusuke examined her more closely now. She was very beautiful, sporting very long red hair that fell to her bum like a waterfall of blood. Her pink-tinted lips were very full and her ocean coloured eyes were big and bright. Her body was very curvy and they could even be spotted through the dark blue kimono that she wore. Her slightly tanned skin had a natural blush to them which resulted in the fact that she needed very little makeup at all. After a moment, the girl took notice of Yusuke staring at her. She sent the half breed a kind smile. For a moment Yusuke had caught a glimpse of a bit of force in her smile as if she was merely faking the polite gesture.

"Oh, you must be that knew girl...Yuri, right?" she spoke in a sickeningly sweet tone of voice.

"Uh, actually my name is Yu-"the girl quickly cut her off.

"My name is Ai. It's nice to meet you." Her smile grew larger as she gave a small nod. The amount of fake kindness in her tone made Yusuke unnoticeably cringe but fake or not, she didn't want to be rude, especially if Ai was being so polite.

"Oh, uh, nice to meet you too, Ai." Yusuke gave a small smile but it went unnoticed by Ai as she whipped her head back towards Itaku.

Yusuke was quite sure that she had heard the name Ai before but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"_Where have I heard that name before? I know that I haven't met her before..." _Yusuke sat for a moment, piecing her thoughts together. She tried her hardest to remember where she had heard that name but had no luck.

"_Damn my bad memory."_ Finally realization had found its way to her. Just as she remembered, she smacked her fist onto her palm with a triumphant smile, unfortunately causing a few eyes to turn towards her. Yusuke ignored the strange looks she was receiving as she finally remembered that the name had been mentioned by Awashima. Ai was the girl that had an obsession with Itaku. Yusuke regained her previous posture and sent a glance towards the redhead. Yusuke seemed slightly surprised to learn the identity of Ai. She was so pretty and seemed so polite and kind, how could she have been turned down eight times in a row...or was it nine? But judging by the looks of passion she was sending towards Itaku, it did not seem very unbelievable for her to be the one with the obsession. After a while of sitting in cluelessness, Awashima had finally taken notice of the half demon studying Ai. He slowly leaned done to Yusuke's ear (since Yusuke was quite short compared to Awashima) and whispered silently to her.

"Don't be fooled. Ai might seem nice now but when she finds out that you're friends with us or that you've had any contact with Itaku, that's when she'll turn into the man-eating monster that she really is." Yusuke nervously gulped at the blonde's choice of words. He said _when_ not _if_. That could only mean that there was no escape for Yusuke...and she was so young too. Being a half yokai, she had hundreds of years ahead of her but now they were all draining away because of the suspicions of a love struck girl. Yusuke mentally kicked herself for over exaggerating things. Finally Yusuke parted her chapped lips to silently reply.

"So..._she's_ the one with the stubbornness condition, then?" Awashima quietly began to snicker at Yusuke's comment, with said half breed soon following suit. Yusuke had a feeling that this would now become a new inside joke between her and Awashima. Reira sent the two a look of confusion as they continued to snicker and whisper amongst themselves.

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Breakfast was finally done and Yusuke had managed to clean up all of the dishes in record time. By now she was already at the river doing the laundry (which was the one chore that was the most time consuming next to cooking). Yusuke took a glance behind her at the many bags of laundry that seemed to tease and mock her. If they could speak, Yusuke was sure that they would be saying "Look at how much work you have to do! Think of how long it will take!" There had to be at least twice as much as the day before. The half yokai let out a loud sigh before continuing to scrub the laundry up and down the wash board. After about twenty minutes of doing laundry, Yusuke finished scrubbing one last garment before setting it aside. She stood up and quickly stretched her spine and arms. Hunching over a washboard for almost half an hour was pretty bad for your back and caused a lot of stiffness.

Yusuke's plans were to try to activate her fear again, which had become a daily routine for her now. Yusuke took a few steps back before planting her feet firmly on the ground. She let her mind grow calm as she relaxed herself. Her eyelids fell as she closed her eyes and began. Awashima said that you would have to channel or invoke your fear in order to perform Hatsu. Yusuke slowly began to channel her own fear (or at least what she thought was her fear) around her. Yusuke waited like that for a few minutes without having any luck before losing her posture and allowing her bum to fall to the ground with a large sigh. She had failed yet again.

"Why won't it work? Itaku said that this was something I had to figure out on my own...but..." yet another sigh escaped the half breeds mouth, this one much more irritable. "I'm pretty sure that I'm doing everything right...no, if it isn't working then I must be doing something wrong." she muttered to herself.

"You're not doing anything wrong...I think there's something else that's holding you back." came another voice, sounding quite familiar. Yusuke bolted to her feet, sending glances in every direction in an attempt to locate the source of the voice. Before she could do anything else, the silhouette of someone jumped down from a tall tree, landing safely on their feet. Yusuke whirled her head around to meet the piercing gaze of Itaku. He stood staring straight at Yusuke with his arms folded over his chest. Yusuke's grey eyes widened slightly with surprise at the sight of the *kamaitachi. For some reason, she had not expected him to be the unknown voice, especially since he did not show much interest in getting to know her better. There was a short pause between the two yokai before being broken by Itaku.

"If you still can't activate your fear by now then you're either more incompetent than I thought or there's a seal involved." Yusuke's face dropped slightly at the word "incompetent" being spoken, leading her to ignore his second suggestion. It was not the first time she had been called "incompetent" but it didn't mean that it hurt less. Luckily, Yusuke was able to brush off the feeling rather quickly. A moment later, after she had managed to process Itaku's words better, a look of confusion swept over her face.

"Wait, a seal?" the half breed questioned.

"Yeah, considering that you were raised by yokai exterminators, it's pretty likely. Of course...it's no easy task to pull off. These sorts of seals can only be placed by exterminators that specialize in it. The purpose of the seal is to prevent the yokai's fear from being activated."

"And you think that this sort of seal was placed in..." Yusuke paused for a moment in mid-sentence as she remembered the small scar on her left hand. There was a small voice that began nagging her to tell Itaku about it but instead her hand had subconsciously moved behind her back in an almost defensive manner. Despite how slowly and unnoticeably Yusuke's hand had moved, Itaku had still managed to catch a glimpse of it.

"What's that on your hand?" Itaku asked as his gaze fell to the hand behind her back.

"Nothing." she answered quickly. Yusuke's actions were terribly betraying her. Why was she so nervous around Itaku? Deep down, Yusuke knew that she should have just told Itaku about the scar on her hand. Was she afraid of what he would do to remove it?

"Don't lie. Now let me see your hand." Before Yusuke could move back, Itaku grasped her wrist, pulling her arm up to examine the scar closely. The sudden contact caused Yusuke to flinch slightly. Shivers ran up and down her spine as Itaku pulled her hand inches away from his face. He stared at the scar very intently, occasionally brushing his thumb over it, which only caused even more shivers to flow. Finally after what seemed like ages to Yusuke, Itaku brought his free hand up and grabbed the hilt of one of his various sickles and pulled it out of its holster. Soon the cold blade came into contact with the small scar, as if he were aiming at it to get a clean cut. As soon as Yusuke realized what the yokai was planning to do, she attempted to yank her hand away from him but failed miserably. His grasp tightened as the half breed began to vigorously try to pull her arm away.

"W-what do you think y-you're doing?" she asked helplessly.

"How else do you expect me to remove the seal? You _do_ want to use your fear, don't you?" Itaku questioned. Yusuke could feel beads of sweat form on her forehead as she finally stopped trying to pull away.

"Y-yes, but...c-can't you remove the seal another way? A-and how do you know that this scar is where the seal is o-or the fact that I even have a seal in the first place?" Yusuke stuttered. Itaku merely stood silent for a moment before answering.

"I'm _sure_ that it's a seal." That answer did not suffice for Yusuke.

"B-but you don't really have to _cut _it out, d-do you?" Yusuke waited hopefully for an answer but instead, Itaku remained silent as he stared straight at her with no emotion brushing over his features. The half demon opened her mouth to speak again but was stopped by a sudden searing pain in her left hand. Itaku had dug his sickle deep into her soft skin and dragged it out, leaving a very deep gash in her flesh. Blood began to pour from the wound and the hot pain that came with it did not make the experience any better. Yusuke barely had time to let out a scream of agony before a strange dark liquid mixed with her blood began to shoot out of the wound, making the sound of a waterfall as it did so. The half breed's eyes were now as wide as saucers, not only because of the pain but also because of the strange purple substance that was vigorously flying out of her hand. Itaku watched the entire occurrence without the slightest bit of emotion crossing his face while he released his grip on her wrist. He casually slid his sickle back into the holster before folding his arms once again. Finally the blood-mixed substance had finished flowing out and the loud rumbling sound it caused ceased. All that was left was the great amount of blood covering Yusuke's pale hand and the ground around her. She carefully brought her hand towards her chest, still wide-eyed from the event. Soon her legs had begun to feel weak from either shock or blood lose (she was unsure of which) and Yusuke fell to her knees, still grasping onto her wounded hand. The crimson liquid soaked into a part of her white priestess uniform but Yusuke showed little care, in fact she had not even noticed that fact. A lump had set itself securely into the raven-haired girl's throat, making it a bit of a challenge for her to speak.

"W-what was t-that?" she choked out, giving the unfazed Itaku a desperate glance.

"That was the seal dispersing." He answered simply. Yusuke did not reply. She took a few moments to regain herself and recover from the overwhelming pain that was now slowly fading but still remained. She stared back down at her wounded hand, examining the extremely deep cut with a look of sheer horror written all over her face. After giving the young yokai a moment of space, Itaku untied his bandana and made his way towards Yusuke. He knelt down in front of her and grabbed hold of her injured hand. He carefully began to wrap the bandana around the wound in order to stop the heavy bleeding.

"You should be able to activate your fear now that the seal is gone." he spoke before tying a tight knot to keep the bandana on the injury. "There, that should be enough to stop the bleeding for now but you should go see Reira to get it properly treated."

Yusuke had finally managed to recover from the slight trauma that she had experienced. She gave a small nod before slowly lifting her head to meet Itaku's gaze. Her face immediately heated up as she noticed how close the two of them were. Their faces were merely inches apart from each other which gave her such a close up view of him. His messy black hair that used to be propped up by the bandana, was now hanging loosely, reaching his naturally furrowed eyebrows. He looked much better without the bandana on. It was surprising, how much of his most flawless features the bandana managed to hide. Yusuke had to admit that he had a _very_ good looking face and there was something about him that really...attracted her in a way. Yusuke quickly sprung to her feet before anymore strange thoughts could enter her mind. Itaku stood as well, soon after.

"T-thank you, Itaku!" she blurted out, slightly louder than she had intended. The weasel yokai turned on his heel before replying.

"_Really,_ don't mention it. Oh, and I'll expect that to be washed and returned." He said while turning slightly and pointing his index finger towards Yusuke's injured hand. She lowered her head in an attempt to hide her flushing cheeks behind her ragged bangs.

"Uh, o-okay." Yusuke stuttered faintly. Itaku turned back around and swiftly jumped back into the trees to take his leave. Once Yusuke was sure that Itaku was out of ear range, Yusuke let out a loud huff before allowing herself to fall to her butt. She had quite a lot to process which resulted in a bit of stress for her. First of all she had just learned that her uncle had actually placed a seal inside of her that prevented her from using her fear (which in her case was quite understandable). Second, the seal had just been literally cut out of her by Itaku. Third, she also just learned that she would now be able to activate her fear (which would probably not happen today since she was a bit preoccupied with other things). And finally, Yusuke was unsure of how to explain any of it to Reira or Awashima. Yusuke let out another sigh, examining the red cloth around her hand. She then placed her hand on her cheek to determine if she was still blushing or not. Her face was still slightly red and radiated with heat.

"What is wrong with you, Yusuke? Stop blushing already_."_ she scolded herself silently. After a while of sitting, Yusuke had lost herself in thought, completely forgetting about her chores at the moment.

"Oh, hi there, Yuna!" came an all-too-familiar voice from behind Yusuke. Her head whirled around to meet the ocean blue gaze of a certain redhead.

"Actually, my name is Yu-" the half breed was cut off yet again by Ai's sickening voice.

"Have you seen Itaku anywhere?" Yusuke sat silent for a moment. She hated lying, but Yusuke did not want to make any enemies in Toono, especially accidental _love rivals._

"N-no, sorry." She answered before standing up and brushing any dirt off of her bum, trying to look and sound as casual as possible. Ai was not so easily convinced.

"Are you _sure?"_ the red-haired yokai pressed. Yusuke gulped, nervously.

"P-positive." Yusuke said while turning to face Ai, a nervous smile twitching on her lips. Ai had a look of disbelief and slight impatience curled onto her soft features. She was just about to speak before spotting the splattered blood on both Yusuke and the ground. She raised a fine brow before asking with fake concern: "What on earth happened here?" Yusuke faltered for a moment as she attempted to think of a good explanation.

"Oh, well, um...y-you know, it was just a...uh, a little accident, that's all." Yusuke had a feeling that her excuse was very unbelievable. She stood there and awaited further questioning on the matter but to her surprise, Ai just simply returned to the subject of Itaku.

"Oh...well, whatever. So anyways, _have_ you seen him?" A small look of surprise brushed over Yusuke's face before she quickly recomposed herself. It was obvious that Ai did not care very much about anything _other_ than Itaku.

"Like I said before, I haven't seen him." She answered, feeling some of her confidence returning. Ai pursed her lips together at the half demon's answer. It was as if she would not be satisfied unless she received the answer she was looking for. The blue-eyed yokai began to twirl a long lock of smooth, red hair, which was a clear sign of her patience running thin. Yusuke's recently obtained confidence began to drain out of her like water in a sink. She was not sure what sort of answer that Ai was looking for. Any confidence that Yusuke once had, completely disappeared as Ai began to look her up and down, as if she were searching for any signs that Yusuke was lying. The half breed feared that if she were to hide her face behind her bangs, then that would be a clear indication that she was hiding something so Yusuke stood strong, staring straight back at Ai with all of the strength she had. Yusuke felt incredibly small and defenceless beneath Ai's gaze, as though the redhead were eating her from the inside.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Ai gave in and let out a huff of defeat.

"Fine then, but if you do see him, make sure to let me know. Bye, Yuna!" Ai exclaimed, the fake sweetness finding its way back to her voice. The red-haired girl turned on her heel and ran off in the opposite direction. Once she was out of sight, Yusuke let out a sigh of great relief.

"_Awashima was right, she is a bit of a man-eating monster...when she's not pretending to be so sweet."_ she thought to herself. Just as she was about to turn and continue with her long forgotten chores, Yusuke remembered that she needed to see Reira about getting her injury treated. Yusuke took a short glance at the laundry she had been in the middle of doing long ago before running off in the direction of the arena. Yusuke was sure that was where she would find Reira and the others, considering that all they ever seemed to do was train. Well, really, it was just Amezo, Awashima, Dohiko and Itaku that seemed to train the most. Reira and Yukari would usually just sit back and watch. After a short run, Yusuke had finally reached the large training area. The echo of clashing blades and attacks was not at all a surprise to her as she emerged from the forest, into the open area. Amezo and Awashima were the two in the arena, facing each other while Reira stood off to the side along with Dohiko and Yukari. Itaku was observing the sparring match from up on a very large branch, in fact so large that it had about the same width as a slightly smaller tree. Once Yusuke had spotted Reira, she inhaled deeply before starting towards the Yuki-onna. As soon as Reira's golden eyes had seen the sight of a blood-covered Yusuke, she ran towards her with a deep look of concern molded onto her pristine face.

"Yusuke! Are you alright?! What happened to you?!" she called out while quickly approaching said half demon with the small Yukari stalking behind. The pinkette's loud words had caught the attention of everyone else in the area. The noise of the match had ceased and Yusuke could now feel all eyes on her.

"Did someone attack you?!" asked Awashima as he jumped down from the arena and ran towards his wounded friend.

"N-no, nothing like that. It was...um..." The situation had now earned Itaku's full attention. He was curious to see if Yusuke would tell them about the seal he had removed. Itaku leaned down slightly to hear the conversation better.

"Well?" asked Awashima in an impatient manner.

"I-it...uh, it was just an accident while I was...um, cutting the firewood, that's all." Yusuke flashed the two a weak yet reassuring smile.

"Hm, well that's why you should just stick to cooking and doing the laundry. Next thing you know, you'll lose an arm." said the blonde as his hands propped themselves onto his hips. The concern in his voice seemed to have disappeared completely. He was slightly more intrigued by the very familiar bandana that was wrapped securely around the gash. Reira on the other hand, still sported a very concerned look on her pale face.

"Right...lets head back so that I can treat your wound, then." Said Reira as she gently grabbed hold of Yusuke's uninjured hand and began leading her back to the temple.

Itaku leaned back up to his previous posture, losing interest quite quickly. Somehow, he had a feeling that she would not mention the seal on her hand. As Reira and Yusuke's figures grew smaller and smaller with each step they took, Awashima leapt up onto the same branch that Itaku stood on. While Awashima faced him, Itaku did not bother to turn towards his comrade.

"That red cloth around Yusuke's hand...that's your bandana isn't it?" Awashima paused for a moment, not waiting for a response before continuing. "Tell me...what exactly happened?" there was yet another pause, this one much longer before Itaku finally answered.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked, sending a glance towards the golden-eyed yokai. He received a simple nod in return before explaining the events.

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Reira carefully unwrapped the bandana and slowly removed it, wincing slightly at the sight of the very deep gash in Yusuke's hand. Some of the blood was already beginning to dry and crust over. She set the bandana aside and quickly reached for the wet cloth that had been soaking in the small bucket of warm water that Reira had fetched. She rung it out a bit before beginning to wipe off the blood from her hand and arm, being very careful as to not cause Yusuke any pain. She then tossed the now blood-stained cloth into the water bucket before grabbing the nearby sake jug.

"Now...this is going to hurt a bit." Reira spoke softly, attempting to make the process of pouring alcohol onto an open wound sound less painful. Yusuke bit her lip nervously before giving a faint nod. Reira nodded in return and tipped the jug, allowing the strong liquid to soak the gash. Yusuke let out a small yelp of pain as the sake engulfed her wound before dripping to the wood floor, her eyes being clamped shut. Reira quickly set down the jug and grabbed a dry cloth to wipe off any remaining sake. Yusuke decided to keep her eyes shut for the rest of the procedure of mending the wound. Suddenly she felt something pierce the skin of her hand and be quickly pulled through, along with what felt like a thread. That same painful feeling repeated until the sound of Reira's soft voice entered her eardrums.

"Okay, it's all done now." Was what she said before Yusuke's eyes slowly opened to look at Reira's handy work. Her hand was now wrapped in white bandages that came down to her wrist and the blood was all gone. Yusuke finally began to breathe again and fill her dry lungs with oxygen once more.

"Thank you, Reira." the half breed spoke very quietly. Reira gave her a warm smile before parting her pristine lips to speak.

"Don't worry about your chores for today, okay? I'll take care of them; I just want you to rest." Yusuke gave a small nod. Usually she would decline the offer but ever since the seal had been removed, she had been feeling slightly sleepy and drained. Reira flashed her another warm smile as she reached behind where she sat, and handed Yusuke her pajamas. Yusuke happily accepted them, giving the yuki-onna a small smile. Yusuke stood up and slipped out of her crimson-stained priestess uniform and handed it over to Reira. She pulled on the pajama that she was given just as the pinkette made her way towards the door.

"Get some rest." she said before exiting the room.

**Author's note: *I remember that at one point in the anime, Itaku mentioned that he was a kamaitchi which I'm guessing is what kind of yokai he is so I just used it to be descriptive. **

**Well anyways, that's it for chapter three. So what do you think of Ai? Personally, I hate her but I needed someone like that in this story so I kind of had no choice in the matter. So, yeah! Thanks for reading, please review since reviews really inspire me to write and...um...yeah :3**

**~FlammingAxel**


	4. Asking for favours

Asking for favours

_Disclaimer: I don't own Nurarihyon no mago or any of its characters _

Yusuke bit her thumb nail in a bored manner as she sat on the grass between Yukari and Awashima. The all-too-familiar sound of clashing attacks echoed through the arena area as yokai fear emitted from the two sparring males. Both Amezo and Itaku were the ones training while the others sat and watched quietly. Training seemed to be the only pastime in Toono but it was miserably boring to sit and watch for Yusuke. She would never openly admit that, of course, that would just be rude. At this time, Yusuke would most likely be doing her chores but on account of her minor injury, Reira insisted that Yusuke not do them until she had healed enough to use her left hand and until then, Reira would be the one to take care of them. Though it was true that Yusuke was unable to use her left hand very well at the moment, she still fought and politely refused many times but the yuki-onna was much too persistent for the half breed, who was fighting a losing battle the entire time. Yusuke felt quite terrible that Reira had to do _her_ chores all because of her wound, despite said yokai stating that it was no problem for her, considering the fact the she had to do a majority of the chores before Yusuke had arrived in Toono. Yusuke made a mental note to thank Reira and repay her somehow once she was healed.

The half demon subconsciously let a sigh escape her lips as the nail she was biting on was now already too short to nip at. Her hand flopped back into her lap with her back slouching a bit more than it had been before. Yukari took notice of her actions.

"Yusuke, are you bored?" she asked, adding her signature cough at the end of the sentence. Yusuke's posture quickly popped upright at the small girl's words in an attempt to make herself look more enthusiastic.

"B-bored? No, n-not at all! I'm actually quite interested in all of this. Its, uh...e-educational?" the half breed stuttered, unsurely.

"It's okay if you're bored, you know. We can go find something else to do." Yukari spoke before the raven-haired girl vigorously shook her head.

"N-no, I'm fine, really." Yusuke said, clearing her throat afterwards. The conversation between the two girls had now caught the attention of Awashima, who decided to join in as an idea hit him.

"If you're bored then why don't _you_ try sparring? You can use your fear now, right?" Yusuke turned her attention towards the blonde.

"W-well yeah, but I haven't exactly activated it y-wait...how did you know?" Yusuke interrupted herself as realization hit her.

"Itaku told me." he answered vaguely. Yusuke parted her lips to answer but was cut off by an overly sweet voice.

"Oh, Itaku! I'm so glad that I've finally found you!" yelled the voice which seemed to cease the sparring sounds. Everyone's eyes darted towards the speaker, who was none other than the man-eating girl, Ai. Ai had a bright smile of pure glee, plastered to her face as she ran closer to the group of yokai, specifically Itaku. The redhead began speaking, mid-run.

"Oh, Itaku! Where have you been?! I looked all over for you yesterday!" Finally she reached her destination, passing the three yokai sitting on the grass, as if they did not exist and swiftly jumped atop the arena. She quickly ran over, roughly shoving Amezo to the side in order to stand in front of the kamaitachi. Apparently, Ai was much stronger than she looked. The force of her push had caused Amezo to stumble off of the arena and fall roughly to the ground in front of Yusuke. The half breed's grey orbs widened at the sight of the kappa on his back, groaning slightly.

"Ah! Amezo, are you okay?" Yusuke exclaimed as she bolted to her feet and grabbed hold of Amezo's scaly, webbed hand. She helped him up with look of worry folding her face. The kappa brushed himself off before speaking.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He answered as his yellow eyes shot towards his assailant. Yusuke sent a glance towards Yukari and Awashima. Yukari's face bared a slight frown while Awashima had a look of great irritation. Yusuke's gaze drifted towards Ai, who seemed to be the center of attention now.

"Sorry for interrupting your training, I was just so worried after not seeing you most of the day, yesterday." Ai spoke in a very cheer-filled voice. Her ocean-blue eyes had finally picked up on the obvious fact that Itaku was not wearing his bandana. Her large eyes grew even larger as her smile brightened.

"Wow, Itaku! You look _so_ good without your bandana on! I think this is the first time I've seen you without it! You _never_ take it off!" Ai exclaimed loudly, putting greater enthusiasm on the word "never". Itaku remained silent as Ai continued to ramble on about his good looks until finally he spoke up.

"Go back to the temple, Ai" Itaku said, clearly irritated by the blue-eyed yokai's presence. Ai's rambling ceased as her bright smile dropped to a childish pout.

"But I came here to see you, Itaku. I don't want to leave yet." she whined. By now, even Yusuke had felt a slight bit of irritation wash over her.

"Oh, that reminds me! I brought you all a snack to have." Ai said as she began to rummage through the sleeve of her dark green kimono. A few seconds later, she pulled out a small, well decorated box as her bright smile returned.

"Here you go." she spoke as she lightly shoved the box in Itaku's direction. Before Itaku could react, Awashima stepped in, snatching the box out of the red-haired yokai's hands.

"Thanks for the food, you can leave now." he said while using his free hand to push Ai's back, leading her to the edge of the arena. Once Ai had processed the fact that Awashima was attempting to force her to leave, she began yelling in protest.

"But I wanted to stay here with you guys! Hold on! I want more time to talk to Itaku! Stop pushing me, Awashima!" Ai finally managed to escape from Awashima and made a sharp turn back towards Itaku. Before she could take more than five steps, the blonde yokai grabbed hold of Ai's collar. Ai stopped running and began to childishly flail her arms and legs around as she continued to protest.

"Cut it out, Awashima~" she whined in an ear-piercingly high voice. After a few moments of flailing around and whining, Ai sighed irritably. Her face grew dark as she shot a death glare towards the blonde.

"Let go." she hissed, slightly startling Yusuke at her dramatic change in tone. Suddenly a great surge of what Yusuke guessed to be Ai's fear, swept over the sparring ground.

The strength of her fear sent Yusuke stumbling backwards while everyone else stood completely unfazed by it. Obviously, Yusuke was the only one that felt the slightest bit intimidated by Ai's fear (which in her case was not surprising). The half breed quickly regained her posture, returning her attention to the two yokai who now seemed to be having a glaring contest. Yusuke sent desperate glances back and forth between the two. Neither one seemed to back down, as if they were mentally challenging each other. The noticeable tension between them was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Hell, you could see the sparks of their glares clashing with each other. Yusuke was unsure of what to do in this situation, so instead; she stood with a look of confusion and fear forming on her face. Finally after what seemed to be forever, Itaku stepped in.

"Ai." he spoke firmly with his back facing her. Said demon's head snapped in his direction, her glare being instantly replaced by a sweet smile as her fear suddenly evaporated.

"Yes?" she asked in her usual sweet voice.

"Go back to the temple." he said once again, not bothering to look at her. Ai gave a small pause before answering.

"...Okay, whatever you say." she said, reluctantly. Awashima removed his grasp on her kimono's collar and eyed her as she stalked back to the temple, slowly. Awashima continued to glare daggers at the redhead's back until she was completely out of sight. Afterwards, the blonde yokai jumped down from the arena and made his way back to Yusuke's side, still holding onto the box that Ai had given them. He shoved the item into the half breed's hands, as if it were an offending gesture to hold onto it.

"She just doesn't know when to give up. Damn, she's annoying." he complained to no-one in particular.

"Yeah and not to mention, she thinks that she's _so _strong just because she can fight. I bet that anyone of us could take her down in less than five minutes." Amezo added. Yusuke semi-ignored their rants and complaints and examined the box that Awashima had thrust to her.

It was a very detailed, black bento box with small white cherry blossoms that were skillfully painted on. Yusuke pulled off the top and slid it underneath the box, containing four rice balls inside. The half demon picked one up from the box and proceeded to nibble on it. The taste was surprisingly sweet, as if someone had sprinkled sugar onto them but despite that, they were rather good. Yusuke began to take larger bites of the rice ball as her face gleamed with content. Yukari reached up, snagged one rice ball for herself and began happily eating it as well. Not long after, both Amezo and Awashima had taken the last two for themselves. It was quite for a moment as they all enjoyed their sweet snack (except for Itaku, who just stood, silently watching).

"Wow, she's a much better cook than I am." Yusuke complimented as she tossed the last piece of her rice ball into her mouth. She then placed the cover back on and set it down on the ground beside her.

"I wouldn't say that. Your cooking is pretty good too, you know." Amezo said between bites. A faint blush spread across Yusuke's face as she hung her head in order to hide behind the curtain that her messy bangs could provide.

"I-I wouldn't say that." she stammered, nervously.

"Stop being so modest, your cooking is a lot better than hers." Awashima chimed in while flicking his finger on Yusuke's chin, causing her head to jolt upwards.

"Um, o-okay." she answered as her head subconsciously hung once again, covering her face. Awashima's brows furrowed at the raven-haired girl's habit. It irritated him the way she always hid her face behind her ragged bangs. Even when not hiding her face, Yusuke's bangs still covered about half of her eyes. Awashima let out a small growl as he shoved the last piece of his rice ball into his mouth. After doing so, the blonde unexpectedly grabbed hold of Yusuke's bangs and pulled them upwards, out of her face. Yusuke let out a small yelp of surprise at Awashima's sudden actions.

"Why don't you just cut these damn things off, already?" he asked as the half breed's hands grabbed hold of Awashima's, trying desperately to pry it off (which only resulted in her pulling her own hair).

"I-I don't know! I just feel better with my long bangs, that's all!" she tried explaining but her reasons did not satisfy Awashima.

"You look a lot better when you're not covering your face with them. Just cut them off." Yusuke didn't reply to Awashima, instead she just continued to pulled at his hand.

"Awashima's right, you look a lot cuter without those bangs in your face." Amezo added while Yukari nodded her petite head in agreement.

"N-no, I like my hair t-the way it is!" Yusuke protested. The blonde yokai grasped the hilt of his sword using his free hand and slowly begun to pull it from its scabbard.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to cut them _for _you." Awashima joked. A sudden pang of fear washed over Yusuke as she began to panic over the matter, led to believe that the blonde was serious.

"Ah, okay, okay! I'll cut my hair, I'll cut my hair! Just please don't use your sword on me!" she pleaded.

A triumphant smile tugged at the corners of Awashima's face as he slid his word back into place and released Yusuke's bangs. The half breed stumbled back, landing flat on her butt as she attempted to catch her breath. Awashima snickered at the half yokai along with Amezo. Finally Yusuke had realized that Awashima was simply kidding about using his sword.

"I-it's not funny. I thought you were really going to use your sword on me." Yusuke defended.

"Like I would do that." The blonde replied bluntly.

He had a point. Yusuke was sure that Awashima would not actually harm Yusuke in any way over such a small matter. The half breed pushed herself off of the ground, brushing off any dirt clinging to her bum as a small pout formed on her face.

"You really thought Awashima was serious?" asked Itaku from behind Yusuke. Yusuke had completely forgotten that he was even there and hearing him speak all of a sudden resulted in her getting extremely startled. Out of sheer reflex, Yusuke jolted before her fist came whirling around along with her body, sending a bone-cracking punch to Itaku's face. The impact sent the kamaitachi flying, hitting a tree rather hard before his body fell limp on the floor.

"Don't scare me like th-!" Yusuke cut herself off once she had noticed that she had accidentally knocked out Itaku. The impact was so intense that her fist was left red and throbbing with pain.

As the half breed stood with a complete dumbfounded look on her pale features, Amezo and Awashima had burst into loud fits of laughter. Yusuke quickly snapped herself back into reality as she raced towards the unconscious Itaku.

"I'm so sorry, Itaku! I didn't mean to!" she yelled in a panicked state before turning towards the two laughing yokai. "Stop laughing! It's not funny, you guys! Ah, what do I do?!" she yelled loudly.

"Wow, Yusuke is really strong." Yukari spoke softly, coughing at the end of her comment. Yusuke ignored the small girl's words, turning around to continue frantically fussing over Itaku.

Just at that moment, Dohiko emerged from the forest area, entering the sparring ground. Before he could carry out his greeting, he had noticed the current situation taking place in front of him. His gaze traveled from Awashima and Amezo, who seemed to be suffocating from laughter, to an unconscious Itaku and then finally, to a panicked Yusuke who seemed to be experiencing an anxiety attack judging by the state of her now completely colourless face and heavy breathing. Dohiko raised a brow at the sights before him, clearly confused.

"What did I miss?" he asked questionably.

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Yusuke stared down, intently at Itaku, who lay unconscious in her bed (since she was unsure of how to reach the men's bedroom and Awashima simply stalked behind her, unwilling to point the way). A look of pure concern was swept over her features, similar to that of a very worried mother. Awashima sat next to her half demon friend, pouring himself some sake. His gaze drifted to Yusuke who was looming over Itaku, as if he would die at any moment. Awashima sighed silently to himself at the sight before him. Yusuke worried _way_ too much over such little things.

"Would you stop looking at him like he's gonna die?" Awashima spoke irritably, taking a sip of his sake.

"I'm just worried. He hasn't woken up in a few hours." Yusuke answered as she briefly glanced at the blonde, who was drinking, much to her dismay.

"That's because you hit him so hard. Trust me, he'll be fine, so stop worrying like you're his mother. If you ask me, he's pretty lucky that he doesn't have a broken jaw after a hit like that...or some missing teeth for that matter." Awashima muttered the last part to himself, drinking the rest of his sake in one gulp, afterwards.

"...Yeah, I suppose." Yusuke said softly before returning her attention to the kamaitachi.

The room had grown silent just as it had been for the past two hours. Awashima let out another sigh before grabbing the half empty jug of sake and pouring himself another cup. He was beginning to grow envious of Amezo, Dohiko and Yukari who had stayed behind at the training arena. Of course, Awashima had to be stupid and agree to come with Yusuke, to take Itaku back. He had been sitting for two hours, watching in silence as Yusuke fussed over Itaku. After the first hour had past, Awashima figured that the best way to pass the time was to drink and so that was what he had been doing for the past hour. In fact, he was quite surprised that he was still relatively sober-feeling after how much sake he had drank. Awashima allowed his mind to wonder back to the topic of Amezo, Dohiko and Yukari. There was no doubt that they were probably laughing at his expense because of all this. Either that or they were training.

"_Those lucky bastards." _Awashima thought to himself after taking a sip from his cup.

Awashima's golden eyes drifted from the floor to Yusuke. She sat on her chaffs with her hands folded in her lap, neatly. Awashima's thoughts had trailed off onto another topic, soon after.

"_Yusuke hit Itaku so hard that it actually knocked him out. It's pretty hard to knock _anyone_ in Toono out, even more so for her. This completely destroys my thoughts of her being just a simple helpless, weak, half breed. Not only that...but this also really peeks my interest on what her fear will be like...plus I doubt Yusuke even knows her true strength. After all, I was the one who had to carry Itaku back bridal style, since Yusuke said that she was too weak to carry him herself." _

Suddenly the haunting memory of Awashima carrying Itaku bridal style had crept its way back into his mind. A cold shiver slithered down his back at that mental image. Sure, Itaku was his comrade and his friend but, despite his female form, Awashima was still a man at heart and had his dignity as a man to look after, so carrying Itaku as if he were a woman was not something that he would want to do on a daily basis...or tell Itaku about, for that matter. Yusuke had finally taken notice of the blonde staring at her with a distant look in his golden eyes. She gave Awashima a curious look as she cocked her head to the side.

"What's wrong, Awashima?" she questioned. Said yokai was pulled back into reality by Yusuke's voice. His eyes had lost they're distant look as he replied. "It's nothing."

"Oh, okay." Yusuke spoke. Her gaze was reverted back to Itaku as she lightly brushed a few strands of raven hair away from his eyes in a caring manner. Awashima let out a small snicker as a sudden thought formed in his mind. Yusuke gave the blonde a questionable look.

"What is it?" she asked, placing all of her attention on the snickering yokai.

"Nothing...I was just thinking that _a lot_ of girls would probably _die_ to be in your shoes right now." He answered between snickers. Yusuke simply gave a look of confusion. After a few moments of deciphering Awashima's comment, Yusuke shot her a stern look.

"Awashima! That's inappropriate." she scolded but her words fell on deaf ears as Awashima continued to snicker happily at her witty joke.

Yusuke simply shook her head in disapproval but was unable to hide the small smile that had formed on her chapped lips. Yusuke would not deny the fact that Awashima was partially right. Who knows what Ai would have done in that situation? But to be honest, Yusuke did not want to know. There was a short silence between the two as Awashima finished his neglected cup of sake. Afterwards, said blonde broke the silence.

"So Yusuke...when do you plan on activating your fear?" he asked, averting her greyish-silver orbs that had now made their way in his direction.

Yusuke sat silent for a moment as she thought it over. Yusuke had not thought of when she would actually gain the courage to activate her fear. Of course, she did want to activate it but for some reason, she had continued to push the thought to the back of her mind every time it appeared. Yusuke was unsure of why she kept her mind off of that matter. Could it be that she was afraid to learn that her fear was weak? But then again, Yusuke had been weak all of her life, so what was she afraid of? That question was simple, she was afraid of everything. But what if, by chance, her fear was strong? Strong enough to fight with? Strong enough to defend what she held dear? What if her fear could open a new way of living for her? If her fear _did_ turn out to be strong, then she wouldn't have to be afraid anymore. She would be able to defend herself in case of danger. She would not be dead weight in a fight and she most certainly would not be vulnerable. But...I order to achieve all of this; she would have to take risks. She would have to be strong and determined. But most of all...she would have to be willing to die trying. Did she really want to take _that_ big of a risk just to gain strength?

"Awashima..." Yusuke spoke in a soft voice.

"Hm?"

"...Can you...do me a favour?"

**Author's note: Well, another chapter complete! Sorry if you don't like how I'm not really putting any Yusuke and Itaku moments in yet but I, for one, am against rushing a relationship that has to develop over time. But anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review if you find the time :3**

**~FlammingAxel **


	5. Activating Fear

Activating Fear

_Disclaimer: I don't own Nurarihyon no mago or any of its characters_

The sun had already set as a dark, star-filled sky began to blanket the sky of Toono. The dining area was as it always was during a meal: noisy chatters from other yokai echoed through the room while everyone enjoyed their food. Reira, Yukari, Amezo and Dohiko were all chatting amongst themselves as well but the blonde yokai remained silent. She did not speak throughout the entire time period spent in the dining hall. Instead she simply sat, quietly eating and occasionally listening in on conversations around her. At the moment, the only thing that was on Awashima's mind was the certain favour that Yusuke had asked of her.

"_Can you...do me a favour?"_

"_Uh, sure...what is it?" Awashima replied._

"_I...I would like to...activate my fear tomorrow...and...I-I want to learn how to use it...t-to become strong." Yusuke began, her gaze remaining on the floor. Awashima had been taken aback, slightly by the half breed's words. A heavy silence had wrapped around the two of them for a moment before Yusuke continued, her gaze now shooting towards the blonde with a fiery spark of determination lighting up her grey orbs. _

"_C-could you please help me?" The half demon stammered. Awashima raised a fine brow in slight confusion. Once he had processed her words, his look of uncertainty had been replaced with a wide grin._

"_If by "help", you mean spar with you...then I'm in! But just remember; I'm not gonna go easy on you if you _really_ want to become strong." The blonde's words had managed to bring a gleeful smile to Yusuke's lips as the rest of her face lit up. _

"_Thank you...Awashima." Yusuke spoke, her words coming out soft. "We can meet at the arena tomorrow then."_

Awashima was not going to lie. She was terribly curious as to what sort of fear Yusuke _did_ possess. There was a high chance that she could have a very unthreatening, weak fear. If that were the case, then it would be pointless to have her train if she would not even be able to win a single battle. But...if Yusuke were to have a much stronger fear, then that would be a whole other story.

Awashima's eyes drifted towards the two vacant seats next to her, their usual occupants absent. Yusuke had refused to leave until Itaku had woken up, which in other words meant that she would most likely miss dinner. Awashima exhaled loudly before turning her attention back to her food. She continued to eat until she was suddenly interrupted by a harsh sounding voice.

"Hey, Awashima. Where are Itaku and that Yu girl?" said blonde glanced to her side, not too surprised to see that it was Ai who had spoken to her. Awashima did not waste anymore of her precious time to look at Ai; instead she turned back to her food and proceeded to ignore the redhead.

"Hey, I asked you a question. Well? Where are they?" she whispered harshly as a look of impatience swept across her features. The blonde yokai did not spear a glance to Ai as she continued to eat.

"It can't be a coincidence that they're _both_ not here. I know that you know, so tell me, where are they and what are they doing?" Ai asked, much harshly than the other two times. Though Awashima knew that it would be a bad idea to joke around about the matter but she could not hold it back any longer.

"They're eloping." she answered bluntly. Ai's ocean blue eyes grew larger than the moon itself.

"What?!" she screeched, gaining the attention of most of the other yokai in the room. Awashima began to snicker silently at the redhead's reaction. Something told her that she probably wouldn't hear the end of it from Itaku but with a reaction like that, it would be a shame not to keep the train rolling.

"Yeah, she confessed to him just the other day and it turns out that just the other day and it turns out that Itaku had feelings for her too." Awashima tried her hardest to stifle the laughter that desperately wanted to escape as Ai bolted to her feet with a priceless expression glued to her face.

"What?! B-but why _her_?! I mean, she's only been here for a week or so, plus she isn't even pretty!" By now, everyone in the room had turned their attention to the screeching Ai as she rambled on about Yusuke's flaws. Awashima could no longer hold in the laughter anymore and began giggling continuously until the redhead had finally picked up on it. Ai quickly ceased rambling and sent the laughing blonde a piercing death glare. Awashima always knew that Ai wasn't the brightest yokai in Toono but she had no idea that she could be _that_ stupid.

"That is _not_ funny!" she yelled, clearly very angry. "Fine, if you won't tell me where they are then I'll just go find them myself!" Ai screeched once again while stomping her way towards the sliding, wooden doors and exiting. After a few moments, the room had gone back to the way it previously was, with yokai chatting and eating.

"Great job, Awashima. Now Ai is gonna go bite Yusuke's head off." Amezo spoke between bites of food.

"Eh, she'll be fine." Awashima said as she simply shrugged off the kappa's words as if they held no meaning or truth.

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Itaku slowly pried open his heavy-feeling eyelids. His vision was blurred before blinking a few times to adjust to the lighting in the room. Soon his sight had come back into focus, noticing the ceiling rafters that were above him. He slowly lifted his head up from the pillow. Itaku had a pretty bad headache but had only noticed this fact after sitting up completely and feeling a sharp pain travel up his neck and to his head. Itaku brought his hand up and clutched onto the part of his head that was hurting the most. It took him a moment to collect his thoughts and remember what had happened. Finally the memory had found its way back into his mind after searching for a few seconds. He had been punched, knocked out, defeated if you will, by the weakest yokai in the village; Yusuke. Itaku had to admit that for such a weak girl, she could punch really, _really_ hard.

Itaku took the time to study his surroundings, reeling his eyes around the room. He was in the women's room, lying in someone's bed but he was unsure of whose. The sound of the sliding door opening brought Itaku's attention towards the entering figure.

"Ah, y-you're finally awake!" exclaimed a very familiar, stuttering voice. The voice was unmistakably Yusuke's voice.

That theory was proven even further as the source of the voice dashed to the side of the bed, letting their knees drop to the ground, uncaring of the pain that pricked their knees. It definitely was Yusuke. Her facial expression was a twisted mix of worry and haste as she began to speak again.

"Thank goodness! I was worried that you might never wake up! H-how are you feeling? D-do you need anything?" she continued to throw useless questions at him until Itaku finally interrupted her.

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"Huh? Oh, well, uh...a while-at least almost the whole day?" Yusuke was slightly unsure of her words or at least how to say them. His eyes widened slightly in surprise. He was only expecting an hour or two, not almost the entire day. That fact caused Itaku to be even more curious as to what her fear was and what type of yokai she was. Instead of replying, Itaku slowly touched the bruise on his face with the tip of his fingers. A pair of small, delicate fingers wrapped around his hand, pulling it away from the injury. Itaku glanced questionably at the half demon, awaiting an explanation.

"I don't think you should touch it. You see, I happened to notice something a little strange about it..." the kamaitachi gave Yusuke a more interested look, indicating that he was listening intently before she continued. "Well...instead of being a bruise, it actually turned out to be a _burn_."

"A burn?" Itaku questioned as the half breed merely nodded.

"It's strange, isn't it? I thought for sure that it was a bruise..." A long and heavy silence enveloped the two yokai as Itaku sat quietly to think things through.

In all honesty, Itaku was a bit surprised. He was sure that Yusuke had punched him and yet he sustained a burn and not a bruise. It is simply common sense to assume that by being punched, one would be left with a swollen wound or a nasty bruise to deal with, especially since the only way you could get burned is by having contact with anything of intense heat such as fire. The only explanation for a strange event such as this would be that...Yusuke's fear...was fire. The fact that that was clear now left only one question remaining: what type of yokai is Yusuke? The most common fire yokai were birds. Could she be some type of Tengu? There was no way of knowing for sure, especially considering how hard it would be to figure out such a fact. It would take a long time before Yusuke could transform into her true form which meant that it would be a while until he would be able to determine that answer. The only other easy way to find that answer would be to ask _her_. Itaku was not too keen on asking her but unfortunately she was the only one who could easily determine what kind of yokai someone is by just merely looking at them. Besides, if Yusuke turned out to be a powerful yokai then it wouldn't be such a waste to train her. Itaku's train of thought was suddenly broken by a sudden outburst from Yusuke.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" she exclaimed before pulling her sleeve up slightly to reveal her forearm. She had Itaku's bandana tied tightly around her arm. The bandana was free of any blood stains that it had sustained previously when he had used it to wrap her hand. Yusuke untied the red cloth before handing it back to him with a warm smile tugging at the tips of her lips.

"Hm?" Itaku took the bandana from the half breed before examining it intently. She had done a very good job of washing it; in fact it was probably cleaner than it had been before. Once he was finished staring at it, Itaku tied the bandana around his head in the way that he always wore it before getting out of the bed and making his way towards the door.

"H-hey, w-where are you going?" Yusuke stammered as she scrambled to her feet.

"I have to go talk to someone." was all he spoke before exiting the room, leaving a very confused Yusuke.

"Talk to someone? Who?" she asked, mostly to herself.

)))))))))))))))))))(((((((((((((((((

Awashima stood impatiently tapping his foot on the ground. He had been waiting there for at least half an hour. He wasn't sure what was keeping Yusuke.

"If she doesn't get here in the next ten minutes, I'm leaving." Awashima spat impatiently. Just as he had said that, a small cry rung through the forest.

"S-sorry I'm late!" Awashima's head spun around to Yusuke who was breathlessly running towards him. She stopped in front of him, dropping her hands to her knees in a desperate attempt to catch her breath.

"If you're going to be late like this every time we spar than you might as well find someone else to help you." Awashima spoke sternly.

"R-right...sorry, Awashima." Yusuke spoke between breaths. Once she had finally caught her breath, Yusuke regained her posture.

Awashima quickly shook off the small event before turning on his heel and jumping up onto the arena (which was empty at the time, considering how early in the morning it was). Yusuke soon followed suit. Once she was on the arena, standing parallel to the blonde yokai, she gave a slight shiver.

"Wow, its cold this morning." Yusuke spoke as she began to rub her arms in an attempt to gain some warmth.

"It's normally like this; we were just experiencing a heat wave here in Toono." Yusuke's eyes widened slightly.

"You mean the weather that we've been experiencing before is considered a heat wave in Toono?"

"Pretty much."

"Ugh, I can't even begin to imagine how bad it will be in _winter_." Yusuke let out a small sigh before brushing the matter off. Awashima did the same.

"Alright, so you know how to activate fear, right?" Yusuke nodded her head in reply. "Good. Now then, I want you to activate it and see if you can bring fear to me."

"O-okay." Yusuke stuttered. She began with calming her mind; the first step in activating fear.

This was it. She would now find out what her fear was and whether it was strong or weak. Either way, she did not want to wait any longer. Yusuke allowed the large urging, aura inside of her to break free of the prison she had created for it. As she did so, a sudden and powerful energy began to flow around Yusuke. Awashima's eyes widened in surprise at the power of the energy: of Yusuke's fear. The sudden flow had sent Awashima stumbling back slightly. Her fear was burning hot, causing Awashima to feel as if he were being engulfed in the flames of a fire. He was taken aback by the fact that Yusuke had managed to bring so much fear on her first try. Awashima had expected a much weaker fear which only added to his surprise.

Suddenly the immense and burning energy disappeared all at once, causing the crisp, cold air to continue nipping at Awashima's warm skin. The blonde's eyes remained wide as he stared at Yusuke in amazement. Said half breed allowed her gaze to fall to the ground in a sheepish manner.

"S-so...uh, how did I do?" Awashima could not find the words to respond to Yusuke's question. Instead, he merely replied with a simple "Wow."

"Huh?" A look of slight confusion swept over the half demon's pale features.

"Yusuke...your fear, it's...so strong." Awashima managed to speak, finally after what seemed like centuries. Yusuke soon bared a similar look of surprise on her face at the blonde's words.

"R-really? My fear is...strong?" It only took a few moments for Awashima to recover from his amazement and surprise, replacing them with a large grin.

"Alright! This is going to be awesome! I've never sparred with a fire yokai before!" he exclaimed with obvious excitement as he wrapped his arm around the stunned Yusuke. She couldn't believe her ears. Her fear was actually _strong_. It took Yusuke a moment before she had finally processed what Awashima had said.

"Wait, fire yokai? Are you saying that...my fear is...fire?" Yusuke questioned. If her fear really was fire, then that would explain why Itaku got a burn and not a bruise when she had punched him.

"Yeah! Just wait 'till I tell the others, won't they be surprised. But before we do anything else, we're gonna have to find you a weapon."

"A weapon?"

"Uh-huh, what else are you supposed to spar with?" Awashima replied as-a-matter-of-factly. "C'mon, let's go." He released his hold on the half breed before making his way to the edge of the arena. Yusuke still stood, dumbfounded by the entire series of events. All within just half an hour or so, she had learned that her fear was fire and it was a very strong one at that. She stood still for a few more moments in deep thought, processing everything very slowly before snapping her head up at the sound of Awashima calling out to her.

"Ah, coming!" Yusuke yelled back as she began to jog towards the blonde yokai who had already managed to get a fair distance away from her.

Once Yusuke had caught up to her, she remained silent for the rest of the walk back to the temple, despite the large, happy smile that had curled onto her face as she walked next to Awashima. Once the two had reached the temple, Awashima lead the way down a flight or two of stairs to, what looked to be a storage room. The room was relatively large with dust covered floor boards, making it obvious that the room was not entered often. The storage room was almost pitch dark if not for the small rays of light seeping through the slight cracks and openings in the floor above. There was barely room to move around since most of the area was occupied by huge piles of crates, old weapons and other junk, all blanketed in a thick coat of dust. Awashima hastily sped towards one of the unorganized piles, speaking something along the lines of "Ah, there it is." Yusuke shot curious glances in all directions as she examined the objects within the storage room that stunk with age.

The sudden loud sound of falling items, toppling over each other attacked Yusuke's sensitive ear drums. Her head shot towards the source, realizing that her friend was nowhere in sight. Anyone with common sense could realize what had happened.

"Ah, Awashima!" Yusuke cried, clear anxiety building up in her voice. The half breed ran towards the messy pile, grabbing hold of Awashima's flailing arm. Yusuke pulled as hard as she could until Awashima's body was already half pulled out from under the "rubble". The blonde left out a few coughs as he desperately attempted to hack up however much dust he had managed to swallow.

"Damn it! Why can't they ever clean up down here?" Awashima spat in frustration as he pulled out the rest of his body.

"Are you okay?" Yusuke asked with a frown. Awashima began brushing off the dust that clung to him, muttering complaints and occasionally sneezing as he did so.

"Man, I think I have dust in my eyeballs." the blonde-haired yokai said as he rubbed his eyes with his hands. Once he was sure that there was no more dust clinging to him, Awashima turned pack to the pile of junk that had just toppled onto him and picked up a long, sheathed blade. He turned back around and handed the blade to Yusuke.

"Here, this used to be my old sword but I don't use it anymore, so it's yours." Awashima spoke before brushing himself off once again for good measure.

Yusuke glanced at Awashima before staring back at the blade, examining it intently. The handle was a simple black with gold trim. The sheath on the other hand was a dark, dull blue with prints of beautiful, white cherry blossoms on it. She examined it with a look of pure awe, admiring its fine detail. Yusuke wrapped her slender fingers around the sword's hilt, pulling out the blade as slowly as possible in order to get a good look at the blade itself. The sword was as clean as a mirror, making it easy for Yusuke to see her own reflection, clearly as she marveled at its beauty.

"W-wait, if this was originally yours then...wouldn't you rather treasure it instead of simply _giving _it to me? I mean, doesn't it mean a lot to you?" Yusuke asked while allowing the blade to slide back into its scabbard.

"Well it's only been collecting dust in here besides, I have this blade now, and I don't need that one." Awashima replied, simple shrugging off Yusuke's concerns. Yusuke's pale face lit up with joy as she threw her arms around the blonde without warning. Awashima tensed at the half breed's sudden actions as he awkwardly tried to pry her off of him.

"Hey, I'm a guy right now, remember?" Awashima said, finally managing to escape the awkward gesture.

"O-oh, right, sorry about that." Yusuke apologized, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "...Thank so much, Awashima." she added afterwards while clutching the sword given to her, even tighter. A wide grin found its way onto Awashima's face as he nodded.

"Well what are we waiting for? We have work to do."

**Author's note: Well I feel like a horrible person for taking so long with this update, sorry about that but anyways, here you go! You know, I used to update quickly...but then I took an arrow to the knee :3 heh heh heh puns-okay I'll stop ._. Review if you have the time, thanks **

**~FlammingAxel**


	6. Reveal

Reveal

_Disclaimer: I don't own Nurarihyon no mago or any of its characters_

Itaku hastily made his way down the many brightly lit halls of the temple, making many turns in all directions. He had passed by a large number of rooms and fellow yokai. Of course none of which waved or even spared the kamaitachi a glance as they passed him by. That was simply how it was in Toono. Most of the yokai in that village worked as mercenaries and not a whole lot of them were your typical friendly type to say hello. Of course it was because of that fact that Yusuke was such a "strange" addition to the village. She was very innocent and shy, not to mention weak hearted and gentle. Though most would classify Reira and Yukari as having similar personalities even they had no problem killing a threatening yokai. Yusuke on the other hand would probably never want to bring harm to a single living thing. The question of why Yusuke was even aloud to live in the first place still sat, scratching at the back of his mind.

It took Itaku a few moments to realize that his pace had slowed down considerably while he had let his thoughts take over for a little while. He immediately sped back to his previous pace and continued down the hall, disregarding his past thoughts for the time being. Itaku continued his trek down the long hallway, ignoring the passing yokai. As he ventured on the halls became less populated and a slight whiff of smoke drifted along through the foyer like some sort of cloud. Itaku managed to trace the source of all of the smoke to a gloomy, aged door at the far end of the hall he was walking in. The gray mist seeped through the cracks of the old door and left behind a wretched ashy smell as it polluted the area surrounding the entrance. Itaku hated visiting this woman and tried very hard to avoid any contact with her but unfortunately the matter required her assistance. Most yokai disliked her (while some quite enjoy her) for her constant flirtation and seductive habits (despite having the body of a 30 year-old). Itaku disliked everything about her but the one thing that always got on his nerves was her tendency to talk very slowly and constantly pause mid-sentence in order to smoke her pipe.

Itaku slowly brought his hand to the handle and pulled the door open with a little bit too much forced than what he had intended. The sliding wood door flew open, hitting the stopper in the process. The impact caused an incredible amount of smoke to fly through the doorway and demolish any fresh, smoke-free air that had existed. He let out a few desperate coughs for air while covering his mouth with his fist and using his free hand to wave away as much smoke as he could. Once Itaku could partially breathe again, he turned his attention to the now open doorway. The room was masked by the thick layers of smoke that surrounded and destroyed any remaining air that had managed to find its way inside. The smoke had been so thick that only a slender silhouette could be seen on the other side. Itaku did not want to proceed into the smoke-filled room; instead he simply crossed his arms over his chest and casually leaned his back on the doorway, keeping his eyes glued to the woman sitting of on the other side as he did so. Before Itaku got the chance to speak, a lazy, drowsy-sounding voice came from the direction of the misty silhouette.

"It's so good to see you...Itaku. It's been so long...I was beginning to think...that you had forgotten about lil' old Jem." She spoke. With a faint and lazy wave of her hand, the thick smoke that clouded the room disintegrated into thin air.

Jem's sitting form had finally come into view for Itaku once all the smoke disappeared. She was lounging on the floor like always, resting one arm on a purple, velvet-covered armrest while she proceeded to smoke her pipe with the other. Her long white hair stretched all the way to the ground, surrounding her body while her long, thin bangs covered some parts of her tanned face. As always, Jem had as much skin showing as she possibly could, wearing a very thin, silk dress that only just came high enough to cover a very small portion of her chest. Her long, slender legs were on full display from the long slit that ran up her dress and ended at her midriff. Her grey-ish lips curled into a wolfish grin once her cyan eyes caught sight of the kamaitachi standing at her door.

"Oh, I'm _so_ happy to have _you_ as a visitor...lovely. What can I...do for you...hmm?" she questioned while she continued puffing more smoke into the air. Itaku wasted no time replying to Jem, as he so desperately wanted to leave.

"Do you know Yusuke? The new half breed?" Jem paused to inhale from her pipe and exhale in a very relaxed way, as if smoking soothed her.

"I...might...why do you ask...lovely?"

"Tell me what sort of yokai she is." Itaku demanded.

"My, my...aren't _we_ the snappy one...well, that's alright...feisty men are so..._interesting._" Jem let out a dry cackle before continuing on. "I suppose I could...tell you...hmm...one moment." Jem peeled herself off of the floor and dragged herself over to a shelf that held merely one item, a mirror. She picked up the mirror and made her way back towards her previous spot on the floor, almost throwing herself back in her signature lounging position. There was a moment of pure silence as Jem peered into the dusty mirror in her hands. Itaku waited patiently as she examined the glass object. After a few moments, Jem let out a small giggle, catching Itaku's attention.

"Oh my...what a little cutie...she's quite the funny one..." Jem aloud another giggle to escape her mouth before silencing herself in order to continue staring through the mirror. "Hrm...so her fear is fire..." Jem muttered to herself, quietly. Itaku's patience was already beginning to run thin with this woman.

"Well, is she a fire tengu?" Itaku pressed while Jem carelessly tossed the mirror behind her with a look of disinterest, similar to that of a child who had lost interest in a toy.

"...no, she is not...a tengu." Jem replied simply before continuing where she had left off with smoking.

"Then what is she?" Itaku questioned the tan-skinned yokai who in turn, exhaled a cloud of smoke through her nose before answering.

"It is a...very common stereotype that any yokai with a fear of the element fire...that they are some sort of fire tengu...but...she, on the other hand...is quite different. I'll admit that I haven't seen a yokai like her for centuries...it's very rare..." Jem paused for a moment to inhale from her pipe, exhaling just as she began to speak again. "This Yusuke girl...if she is trained...properly than she can become...very powerful...I suggest that you push the idea of this girl having no use out of your mind..."

"Get to the point, if she isn't a tengu than what is she?" Itaku asked, clearly irritated by Jem's digressing.

"Well...Yusuke is a kasha." Jem finally stated. Itaku gave the woman a strange look. He had only heard of the name but he had no idea how strong they were or what they even looked like. "Don't look at me like that, lovely, I'm not finished." Jem spoke with her pipe being held in her mouth. "Kasha are an extremely rare cat yokai. They are usually white in colour and...have a very large...flaming tail...normally the flames...differ from their personality. Judging by her silver streaks...I have a feeling that her flames...would most likely be...silver or white...in other words, pure. I must say...it's a very good thing that she wasn't killed the day she came here...she will make a great addition...don't you think? Plus she's just so cute and amusing and so young too...she will have a long life ahead of her, you should bring her to visit me sometime, little weasel." Jem digressed yet again but her rambles fell on deaf ears.

Itaku had fallen into a deep cycle of thought as Jem continued to mindlessly speak of Yusuke. If Yusuke was actually some rare yokai then maybe it wouldn't be a waste of time to train her. But now that Itaku had discovered what yokai she is, he was slightly anxious to see what her yokai form looked like. That knowledge would not be too hard to find, after all, most yokai that take on a human appearance usually transform into their true form when fighting at full strength. Itaku was torn from his thoughts when Jem had finally spoken something of interest.

"You know, the legend of kasha is that they bring the souls of sinners to hell...of course, that _is_ merely the human legend...I doubt that our little Yusuke could manage that. Actually, kasha are also known as "Corpse-eating cat demons"...it is also said that they appear on stormy nights...hmm, I wonder if that would mean that she likes the rain..." Jem mutturded the last part to herself as she inhaled more smoke from her pipe.

Itaku pushed himself off of the doorway and proceeded to exit, having no further need to stay in that smoky room. Just as Itaku had stepped through the exit, Jem called out to him.

"Hold it, lovely...now...about my payment for my services..." Jem paused in order to smoke from her pipe and tap it on the armrest, causing the ashes to fall into the ash pile beside her.

"How about you and I hit it o-" before Jem could even finish what she was saying, the sliding door slammed shut so hard that the impact had caused the descorative vases that cluttered her other shelves to fall to the ground and shatter. Jem had no care for the bloody things, anyways, as she merely smirked in amusement.

"Foolish weasel...I was only joking...besides, I don't date younger men." Jem spoke, quite certain that the kamaitachi would not hear her.

Itaku made his way down the hall at a fast pace. He was overjoyed to be out of that stuffy room with that stupid woman. Since he had discovered what he had intended, Itaku had no reason to sit there any longer and listen to her rambling and muttering while reluctantly inhaling the smoke that she produced. Once Itaku had exited the temple, he began jumping from branch to branch on the tall trees, heading straight towards the training arena that he and his friends used most often. As he drew near, the forest was unusually silent. The sound of clashing weapons did not echo off of the tall trees like normal. Instead the tress remained still and the air hung thick with silence. It was very strange, especially at that time of day. Itaku proceeded until he finally reached the arena. He leapt off of the last branch onto the ground next to Yukari. He raised a brow at the events that were presently unfolding.

Awashima was running in circles, flailing his right arm around in a panic from his flaming arm. Yusuke ran at a pathetic speed behind the blonde in an anxious attempt to catch up to him. Amezo stood next to Dohiko up on a high, thick branch, watching in amusement while Reira bared a nervous smile as she stood next to Yukari.

"Put it out! Put it out! Put it out! Put it out!" Awashima screeched as he continued his idiotic running.

"I-I'm trying!" Yusuke replied between desperate breaths for air as she followed behind the panicked yokai.

"What happened?" Itaku questioned, not directing the question to anyone in particular.

"Well, Yusuke and Awashima were sparing and then Yusuke set Awashima's arm on fire by accident." Yukari answered before lightly coughing in her hand.

"Is that so..." Itaku said to no-one in particular as he joined the others in watching the event unfold.

Yusuke had finally managed to catch up to Awashima, grabbing hold of his red cloak and tearing it off. The half breed proceeded to stomp wildly on the cloak even long after the flames had demolished. She had finally stopped after the poor fabric was almost stomped into the ground. Yusuke took a moment to catch her breath before turning towards Awashima who had fallen to his butt, panting as well.

"I'm so sorry, Awashima! I didn't mean to!" Yusuke apologized, a frown forming on her face. Once he had caught his breath, Awashima stood up, brushing any clinging dirt from his cloths.

"Ah, it's fine, don't worry about it." He spoke in a nonchalant tone. Before Yusuke could reply, Awashima's golden eyes caught sight of the silent kamaitachi that stood next to Yukari.

"Oh, hey, Itaku! Where've you been?" Awashima spoke, drawing attention to both him and Itaku. "You should have seen Yusuke fight! She's actually a pretty decent fighter on her own!' the blonde yokai boasted, excitedly as he draped his arm over Yusuke's shoulders, pulling the half breed into a playful headlock.

"Yes, apparently she was taught basic fighting by her uncle from the temple she used to live at." Reira chimed in.

"Yeah, she made fighting Awashima look easy!" Amezo added, much to Awashima's annoyance.

"Hey! I was winning, I just wanted to go easy on her for the first round!" the blonde angrily defended.

Itaku looked towards Awashima with a slight look of surprise. He was honestly not expecting to hear that Yusuke was a strong fighter on her own, even if she was a kasha demon. Itaku's chocolate brown eyes drifted towards Yusuke who smiled as she watched Awashima ramble to Amezo about their sparring match. Yusuke glanced towards Itaku and for a brief moment, their eyes met before they both looked away, quickly. A small blush crept onto her pale cheeks as her grey-silver orbs remained glued to the ground. She hated when she made eye contact with someone in that awkward way, it always made her feel uncomfortable.

"I don't know, Awashima. I bet Yusuke could probably beat you in a fight if she were battling at her full strength." Amezo teased, sending Awashima into another rage. Suddenly, an idea found its way into Itaku's mind after overhearing the kappa's teasing.

"Well, if Yusuke is as strong as you say she is..." Itaku intervened, grabbing the attention of everyone around him. "I'll be her next opponent." His words sent a bolt of surprise to everyone as they stared at him slightly wide-eyed before he continued; now turning towards Yusuke.

"If you can defeat me in a sparring match then I'll acknowledge you as a yokai deserving to live in Toono village. I'll also consider training you as a bonus."

Yusuke swallowed a premature lump that had attempted to form in her throat. She was so weak, there was no way she would be able to defeat Itaku. Before Yusuke could get a chance to respond, Itaku had already pulled out his two of his sickles and jumped atop the arena. The half demon's grip on the hilt of her blade, tightened as every muscle in her body disobeyed her protesting thoughts by following Itaku onto the training arena

**Author's note: Well damn, that took a while o_o but anyways, here you go, another chapter complete! So! Were you guys expecting her to be a kasha demon? Hm? Hm? And just before you ask any questions about it, yes a kasha is a real Japanese yokai and it is a cat with a flaming tail, trust me because I spent a hell of a lot of time researching this and trying to find an appropriate yokai for Yusuke. But I digress, reviews make my day **

**~FlammingAxel**


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